Pyroelectric polarization in cells, tissues and organs of plants

Abstract

Summary Using pyroelectric methods of measurement we were able to demonstrate pyroelectric behaviour in the cell walls of the green alga Valonia utricularis . Pyroelectric behaviour and hence the presence of a permanent electric moment was established in two axial directions, the first running parallel to the longitudinal cell axis and the second at right angles to the external surface. Subsequent investigations covering species of the Filicinae, Cycadinae, Coniferae, Mono- and Dicotyledoneae revealed that pyroelectric behaviour and a permanent electric moment in two axial directions (longitudinal polarization and outside-inside polarization) was also present in all the tissues and organs of higher plants. In the xylem of woody plants the directions of the longitudinal and of the outside-inside polarization are opposite to that found in the phloem. In all the external coating tissues, especially in the epidermis of leaves and tendrils, in the epidermis and phellem of bark and bud scales (winter buds), as well as in seed coats and fruit walls, we invariably found the same direction for the outside-inside polarization.