Numerous studies in materials science and chemistry have expanded our understanding of the repellency of water droplets from surfaces. Much of the inspiration for the development of synthetic water‐repellent materials came from the examination of water‐repellent properties of animals and plants in the natural environment. The hydrological significance of water repellency in the natural environment remains an underexplored research topic. Although the hydrological significance of soil water repellency has become well established in the ecohydrology and water resources literature, fewer studies have examined the significance of leaf water repellency. This review examines the properties of leaf water repellency, the methodologies used to calculate leaf water repellency, the leaf surface properties that promote leaf water repellency, and the significance of leaf water repellency in ecohydrological research. The repellency of a water droplet by a leaf surface is functionally important among plant species and may reflect selective strategies that either favour leaf water uptake in drought‐prone environments or promote higher photosynthetic efficiency during prolonged periods of precipitation through higher repellency. Information on the functional significance of leaf water repellency in hydrologic models could enhance our understanding of the delivery of water resources to municipal reservoirs and fill in a missing gap in our understanding of leaf water repellency as a process that influences discharge, and by extension, water resources. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Canopy storage capacity is influenced by several variables, including canopy surface area, canopy architecture, and wind. Different species with the same canopy area, but with differences in leaf hydrophobicity and water droplet retention, may produce different values of canopy storage capacity. The objective of this study was to investigate if leaf hydrophobicity and water droplet retention are additional influences on canopy storage capacity. Specifically, this study tested the hypothesis that species with the highest leaf hydrophobicity and the lowest water droplet retention had the lowest canopy storage capacity on a per leaf area basis. Seven tree species from Colorado, United States were selected for experimentation. Five branches from each species were lopped, positioned under a rainfall simulator, and connected to a balance to record the mass gain of the branches by rainfall interception during 17 min of rainfall simulation. Each branch was destructively sampled following rainfall simulation to calculate the leaf and woody surface areas. The rank order of leaf surface storages at canopy storage capacity for each species corresponded to the rank order of leaf hydrophobicity and water droplet retention for each species. Species with the highest leaf surface storage had the lowest leaf hydrophobicity and the lowest water droplet retention. The significance of leaf hydrophobicity and water droplet retention as variables that influence canopy storage capacity is a largely unexplored topic in ecohydrology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.