How Does Epinasty (the Epinastic Effect) Help a Plant During Flooding?

[soc...@gmail.com]

Suggestion: Epinasty during flooding is adaptive because the downward
directed leaves act as sails in the wind, and the wind action on the
leaf acts on the plant and leaf stems like somebody working a lever
water pump. That is there is a physical mechanism within the stem
similar to a lever water pump which is activated by the up and down
movements of Epinastic leaves blown in the wind.

The idea is that a flooded plant needs to pump water out of space
surrounding the roots as quickly as possible. Epinasty then does this
through ramped up tranpiration induced by a higher water pressure from
a lever pump action. (Maybe downward directed leaves transpire more
quickly in the wind even without pump action because when they become
perpedicular to it -to the wind- or when the plant makes sure to
epinastically grow perpendicular to the most common prevailing wind -
this makes transpiration faster than if the leaves are parallel to the
wind as the are on the most part during normal conditions.)

I'm sure this has been thought of and discussed before even by
Aristotle and others of his ilk.