Excuse me while I wax lyrical about plants: carnauba wax is obtained from the fronds of the carnauba palm (Copernicia prunifera) of Brazil. Valued for its hardness and high melting temperature, carnauba wax is employed as a vegan food-grade polish and as a hardening or gelling agent in a number of products. Despite the widespread adoption of cheaper synthetics, it is still common as a component of certain furniture, leather, car, and shoe polishes and is used in cosmetics such as lipsticks. It is also used as a polish for candies and medicinal pills, as a thickener for solvents and oils, and as a hardener for printing inks.

P.S. So fun to actually see stomata with my microscope. They’re not just simple holes! They have guard cells that open and close the holes. Very cool.