Lignin is a rigid, waterproof polymer found only (as far as I know) in plant cell walls. It's pretty interesting stuff: it's what makes trees rigid enough that they don't fall over and gives the water-bearing vessels in plants the ability to withstand large tensions without caving in. It's also inedible, at least to animals, and is sometimes used as a defensive compound. Because it's of economic significance (high-lignin wood makes good building material and fuel, but bad paper) a fair bit is known about it biochemically.
Why do I, an evolutionist, care? Because of this cool paper recently published in Plant Cell.
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