Question

while white washing the house a can of varnish accidentally fell on the leaves of a money plant. it died after a few days. what is the reason?

Answer 1

Varnish does not let either O2 or CO2 to let in the plant as it forms a layer on top of the whole plant

Answer 2

The plant died because due to deposition of a layer of varnish over it, the stomatal pores get covered.
Due to this, no exchange of CO2 and O2 could took place.
Also sunlight could not be absorbed by the plant.
No transpiration, photosynthesis, respiration could took place.
As a result the plant could not get any nutrition and ultimately died due to stoppage of metabolic activities.