Diffusion of oxygen through lenticels in potato tuber

Summary Diffusion into the potato tuber of oxygen for respiration takes place only through lenticels, and not through the rest of the periderm. The number of lenticels which were capable of injection with methylene blue solution was observed to be about 100 per tuber. Rates of oxygen diffusion per lenticel varied from 0.024 to 0.296 cm³ h⁻¹ atm⁻¹ with a mean of 0.1105±0.013 cm³ h⁻¹ atm⁻¹.