Question

What are sciophytes?

Answer 1

There are different types of plants with different types of characteristics in the forest. Some plants require a higher amount of sunlight, and some may work perfectly under limited lighting conditions.

Complete answer:
Sciophytes are plants that last or thrive best at low light intensity. These plants have larger photosynthetic units than solar plants or heliophytes.

Sciophytes are shade-loving trees and plants. These plants have larger photosynthetic units than solar plants or heliophytes. Sciophytes are also known as photophobic plants and reach their saturation level in only 20% sunlight.

Shade-plants essentially follow strategies for the optimum use of available energy and energy conservation.

Adaptations to achieve these strategic objectives include thinner leaves with a relatively higher chlorophyll content per unit leaf volume lens-shaped epidermal cells that focus incoming light into and within the mesophyll a red cell layer that reflects outgoing light back into the mesophyll, and increased allocation of available energy to herbivorous defense mechanisms.

The leaves of these plants are relatively thin compared to other plants, as the thinner leaves help to capture low amounts of sunlight and also help to reduce the rate of water transpiration through the leaves. Now that the absorption of light energy is minimal, the amount of chlorophyll present in the leaves of these plants is relatively high and contributes optimally to the production of food.

It can easily be said that these plants are a little photophobic.

Note: Types of sciophytes of plants are generally found in places where the concentration of light reaching the surface is considerably low and the higher plants have formed a canopy over the surface leading to obstruction of the light coming to the surface.