News Plants

Some plants can feed on dust that lands on their leaves

Leaf surfaces secrete a thin layer of organic acids that dissolve nutrients directly from dust

Flowering sage plants grow in a field, with farmland and a road in the background.

Greek sage plants (Salvia fruticosa, shown) had their leaves dusted with mineral powder to show that plants can feed on the dust that settles on them.

Robert Flogaus-Faust/Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)

By Sanket Mungase

Instead of relying on the soil for nutrients, plants may grab some of those essentials from airborne particles.