Dr Kynes
Well-Known Member
sticky resinous glands do not protect against bugs, they TRAP THEM, yet i have never seen a cluster of bugs stuck to my dope.Well, maybe I'm wrong, but I've done harvests with and without flushing and noticed a difference in taste and smell. Perhaps it's just me, but myth or not I'm going to keep doing a final flush. Also, I never said trichomes were there to catch bugs, but to protect the plant against them.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/inside-trichome
http://www.answers.com/topic/what-are-the-functions-of-trichomes
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trichome
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67198491@N05/6269520969/
FYI some trichomes (like the african violet pictured in your uninformative flickr link) are proto-root structures, which will become actual roots if they contact moist soil. this is why you can root african violets from a snippet of leaf which is not possible with many other plants. the trichomes of a tomatoe plant perform a similar duty, allowing roots to develop readily wherever a branch contacts soil. the fine hairs of a fig tree are intended to irritate browsing herbivores, and the spines of cacti do a similar duty. none of this has dick to do with sticky resinous glands on reproductive organs of any plant, much less an unusual species like cannabis.
the sticky resinous glands of dope do not offer any protection from budworms, whiteflies, spider mites, or any other dope pest critter, they are found solely on the reproductive organs of the female flower for the catching of windblown pollen.
you can doubt this to your heart's contentment, but it remains true. this is why calyxes which are un-pollinated produce MORE STICKY RESIN while pollinated calyxes stop producing resin and instead direct their energy to producing seeds.
or do you imagine that once seed production begins, the "protective power" of the sticky resin becomes somehow Less Important? if it were protective, then seed production (the ultimate goal of the plant) would require greater levels of protection through stickiness, not less.
none of your dictionary (lol) incomplete and inaccurate answers dot com (double lol) and cannabis culture dot com (triple lol) or wildly inaccurate flickr links (ultimate lol) support your claim that sticky resinous glands on the female flower are somehow protective, but then a list of irrelevant or inaccurate links is often all the "proof" that can be provided to support an erroneous assumption.
sadly the taboo on scirentific research with cannabis has resulted in very few scholarly examinations of the plant and it's reproduction, so i am unable to provide a definitive link from a reliable source, however in EVERY SINGLE PLANT ON EARTH sticky resins on the female reproductive organs are there to catch pollen, not to trap or repel bugs. this is true of both perfect flowers (like roses where the resin forms on the pistils and ova) or imperfect flowers, (like pines where the resin is on the mega-ova, the "cone")
biology is not haphazard nor is it capricious.
structures found solely on the ova are for the catching of pollen. thats is all.