Evaporation and environment.

A turgid leaf exposed to bright sunshine can transpire an amount of water several times its own weight during a summer day. Rapid evaporation is sustained by a supply of heat from the atmosphere and by a movement of water within the plant preventing the desiccation of leaf tissue. In analysis, the need for energy and the need for water have often been disassociated. Meteorologists investigating the energetics of transpiration have assumed that...