Plant cell wall elasticity III:: A polymer elastic interpretation of inverse pressure-volume curves

The Scholander pressure bomb is an established method for measuring plant-water relations. Results have previously been interpreted on the basis of bulk elastic properties of cell walls. The shortcomings of the bulk elastic modulus and an alternative analysis of plant cell wall elasticity based on polymer mechanics were presented in the first two parts of this study. In this third part of the series, the polymer-based model is presented in a form suitable for interpreting the results of data collected from the Scholander pressure bomb. Inverse pressure-volume relationships generated from the polymer model agree closely with experimental data.