On: A variety of corn has evolved a way to make its ow...

[henearkr]

With all this mucus dripping, won't it need even more water? Wouldn't that be a problem in the dry future?

[danielheath → henearkr]

Compared to the the problem of nitrogen fixing in a future without haber-bosch fertilizer plants, water use barely registers.

[quixoticelixer- → danielheath]

Actually it does

[tnjm → henearkr]

It does. This landrace grows in areas receiving high rainfall, and with high ambient humidity -- and in my experience it only produces the mucus in those conditions, which sadly is likely to limit its potential, at least without very significant extra breeding work.

[fouc → henearkr]

I wouldn't be surprised if the gel/mucus produced was water absorbent and most of the water used in the mucus actually came from external sources.