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Biological surfaces provide multifunctional interfaces to their environment. More than 400 million years of land plants evolution led to a large diversity of functional biological surface structures. This article provides an overview of the most frequently functional surface structures of plants, It focuses on functional adaptations of plant surface structures to environmental conditions. The structural and functional relationships of plants growing in deserts, water and wetlands are discussed. The article is written for both biologists and non-biologists and should stimulate the readers to initiate or intensify the study of functional biological surfaces and their potential for technical use, leading to, so called, biomimetic inspired smart surfaces. For a broader understanding of the structural diversity in plants, the origin of surface structuring is introduced from the sub-cellular level up to multi-cellular structures. Functional aspects of plant surface structures include the reduction of particle adhesion and the self-cleaning properties in the Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaves. These surface properties are based on physico-chemical principles and can be transferred into technical "biomimetic" materials, as successfully done for the Lotus leaves. In plants, several other functional structures, e.g., for the absorption of water or light reflection, exist. Some, which might be useful models for the development of functional materials, are introduced here and some existing technical applications and fabrication techniques for the generation of biomimetic surfaces are discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.