World’s First Self-Irrigating Plant

The Desert Rhubarb's shape has stumped Ecologists for years. The wide flat shape is in contrast to the spiky water conserving leafs you usually find. The newly discovered function of the leaf is apparently to water the plant itself.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/irrigatingplant

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A desert plant has apparently figured out how to water itself.

Ecologists had been puzzling over the desert rhubarb for years: Instead of the tiny, spiky leaves found on most desert plants, this rare rhubarb boasts lush green leaves up to a meter wide. Now scientists from the University of Haifa-Oranim in Israel have discovered that ridges in the plant’s giant leaves actually collect water and channel it down to the plant’s root system, harvesting up to 16 times more water than any other plant in the region.

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