How would a plant adapted to living at -23 degrees Celsius keep ice from clogging its stomata?

Full version of the question: How would a plant adapted to living at -23 degrees Celsius keep the water vapor it transpirates from flash freezing to the surface of/within its leaves and clogging its stomata? (It was over 150 characters.)

So, this is partially inspired by this question:

I want a layer out of frozen clouds floating around my planet. How could that work?

And it got me thinking - at the altitude of cirrus clouds, 6000 meters, the air is between -22.6 and -24.6 degrees Celsius. The clouds are formed by flash freezing water vapor. There are plenty of possibilities for modifying plants so their xylem can carry water that high, and how to do it without freezing the xylem, but I want to zoom in and focus solely on another part of the plant - the little stomata releasing water vapor into the air.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoma

If a stoma is releasing water vapor into the air, and the vapor flash freezes, then how would the plant prevent ice from forming around the edges of the stoma until it's clogged?

If the plant uses an antifreeze like turpentine, and removes the antifreeze from solution just before the water vapor is released, how would it prevent the water from freezing just below the surface of the leaf, just before a stoma's opening?

posted over 6 years ago

KernelOfChaos‭

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