Sweet. Hi! This is an odd place to bump into you. :)
I agree with your thoughts that this could be a consequence of coating the top surface in the waxy needles. However, I think it's actually somewhat unusual for a leaf to be superhydrophobic on the top and bottom, so I was wondering if there was some specific advantage to this leaf. Also, the needles on the under-side seemed far more dense than those on top, which was interesting.
I agree with your thoughts that this could be a consequence of coating the top surface in the waxy needles. However, I think it's actually somewhat unusual for a leaf to be superhydrophobic on the top and bottom, so I was wondering if there was some specific advantage to this leaf. Also, the needles on the under-side seemed far more dense than those on top, which was interesting.