Plant Structure and Function

Plant Structure and Growth Angiosperm Structure

• Three basic organs: • • 1. Roots (root system) fibrous: mat of thin roots taproot: one large, vertical root • • • • • 2. Stems (shoot system) nodes: leave attachment internodes: stem segments axillary bud: dormant, vegetative potential terminal bud: apex of young shoot apical dominance: inhibits axillary buds • • 3. Leaves (shoot system) blade petiole

Many plants have modified roots

(a) Prop roots (b) Storage roots (c) “Strangling” aerial roots (d) Buttress roots (e) Pneumatophores

Many Plants Have Modified Stems

(a) Stolons.

Shown here on a strawberry plant, stolons are horizontal stems that grow along the surface. These “runners” enable a plant to reproduce asexually, as plantlets form at nodes along each runner.

Storage leaves Stem Root

(b) Bulbs.

Bulbs are vertical, underground shoots consisting mostly of the enlarged bases of leaves that store food. You can see the many layers of modified leaves attached to the short stem by slicing an onion bulb lengthwise.

(c) Tubers.

Tubers, such as these red potatoes, are enlarged ends of rhizomes specialized for storing food. The “eyes” arranged in a spiral pattern around a potato are clusters of axillary buds that mark the nodes.

(d) Rhizomes.

The edible base of this ginger plant is an example of a rhizome, a horizontal stem that grows just below the surface or emerges and grows along the surface.

Node Rhizome Root

(a) Simple leaf.

A simple leaf is a single, undivided blade.

Some simple leaves are deeply lobed, as in an oak leaf.

(b) Compound leaf.

In a compound leaf, the blade consists of multiple leaflets.

Notice that a

(b)

leaflet has no axillary bud at its base.

(a)

(a) Tendrils. The tendrils by which this pea plant clings to a support are modified leaves. After it has “lassoed” a support, a tendril forms a coil that brings the plant closer to the support. Tendrils are typically modified leaves, but some tendrils are modified stems, as in grapevines.

Petiole Axillary bud Leaflet Petiole Axillary bud

(c) Storage leaves. Most succulents, such as this ice plant, have leaves modified for storing water.

(c) Doubly compound (c) leaf.

In a doubly compound leaf, each leaflet is divided into smaller leaflets.

Leaflet Petiole Axillary bud

(e)Reproductive leaves.

The leaves of some succulents produce adventitious plantlets, which fall off the leaf and take root in the soil.

(b)Spines. The spines of cacti, such as this prickly pear, are actually leaves, and photosynthesis is carried out mainly by the fleshy green stems. (d)Bracts. Red parts of the poinsettia are often mistaken for petals but are actually modified leaves called bracts that surround a group of flowers. Such brightly colored leaves attract pollinators.

Plant Tissues

• 1. Dermal (epidermis): single layer of cells for protection cuticle • • • • 2. Vascular (material transport) xylem: water and dissolved minerals roots to shoots tracheids & vessel elements: xylem elongated cells dead at maturity phloem: food from leaves to roots and fruits sieve-tube members: phloem tubes alive at maturity capped by sieve plates; companion cells (nonconducting) connected by plasmodesmata 3. Ground (photosynthesis, storage, support): pith and cortex

Plant Cell Types

1. Parenchyma

primary walls thin and flexible; no secondary walls; large central vacuole; most metabolic functions of plant (chloroplasts)

2. Collenchyma

unevenly thick primary walls used for plant support (no secondary walls ; no lignin)

3. Sclerenchyma

support element strengthened by secondary cell walls with lignin (may be dead; xylem cells); fibers and sclereids for support

• • • • • • •

Plant Growth

Life Cycles

annuals: 1 year (wildflowers; food crops) biennials: 2 years (beets; carrots) perennials: many years (trees; shrubs)

Meristems

apical: tips of roots and buds; primary growth lateral: cylinders of dividing cells along length of roots and stems; secondary growth (wood)

Primary growth

• • • • •

Roots

root cap protection of meristem

zone of cell division

primary (apical) meristem zone of elongation cells elongate; pushes root tip

zone of maturation

differentiation of cells (formation of 3 tissue systems)

• • • •

Primary Tissues of Roots

Stele the vascular bundle where both xylem and phloem develop Pith central core of stele in monocot; parenchyma cells Cortex region of the root between the stele and epidermis (innermost layer: endodermis) Lateral roots arise from pericycle (outermost layer of stele); just inside endodermis, cells that may become meristematic

Primary Tissues of Stems

• • • Vascular bundles (xylem and phloem) Surrounded by ground tissue (xylem faces pith and phloem faces cortex) Mostly parenchyma; some collenchyma and sclerenchyma for support

Primary Tissues of Leaves

• • • Epidermis/cuticle (protection; desiccation) Stomata (tiny pores for gas exchange and transpiration)/guard cells Mesophyll: ground tissue between upper and lower epidermis (parenchyma with chloroplasts); palisade (most photosynthesis) and spongy (gas circulation)

Secondary Growth

• Two lateral meristems

1. Vascular cambium

produces secondary xylem (wood) and secondary phloem (diameter increase; annual growth rings)

2. Cork cambium

produces thick covering that replaces the epidermis; produces cork cells; cork plus cork cambium make up the periderm; lenticels (split regions of periderm) allow for gas exchange; bark~ all tissues external to vascular cambium (phloem plus periderm)