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Modified Stems That Grow Above Ground

The document describes different types of modified plant stems that grow above and below ground, including: 1) Above ground stems include stolons, tendrils, searcher shoots, cladodes, thorns, and short/long shoots which have various functions like vegetative reproduction, support, photosynthesis, and protection. 2) Below ground stems include bulbs, rhizomes, corms, tubers, and some succulent stems that store nutrients, food, and water to help plants survive stressful periods. Bulbs, corms, and tubers are modified, thickened stems while rhizomes are horizontal underground stems that can function as the main plant stem.

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Wendel ڪے
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121 views4 pages

Modified Stems That Grow Above Ground

The document describes different types of modified plant stems that grow above and below ground, including: 1) Above ground stems include stolons, tendrils, searcher shoots, cladodes, thorns, and short/long shoots which have various functions like vegetative reproduction, support, photosynthesis, and protection. 2) Below ground stems include bulbs, rhizomes, corms, tubers, and some succulent stems that store nutrients, food, and water to help plants survive stressful periods. Bulbs, corms, and tubers are modified, thickened stems while rhizomes are horizontal underground stems that can function as the main plant stem.

Uploaded by

Wendel ڪے
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Modified stems that grow above ground: 

 Stolons or runners-are horizontally


oriented stems that grow along the soil
surface. Their function is vegetative
production.
 Tendrils and twining shoots-coil around
objects and help support the plant.
 Searcher shoots-are stems with long
internodes that move in circles through
the air seeking a support.
 Cladodes or cladophylls-are flat, leaflike
stems modified for photosynthesis.
 Thorns-are modified stems that protect
plants from grazing animals.
 Short and long shoots-long shoots have
long internodes, while short shoots are
rosettes and have short internodes.
 Succulent stems-of plants have a low
surface to volume ration and store large
amounts of water and are common in
desert plants.

Modified stems that grow below ground: 

 Bulbs-are rosette stems surrounded by fleshy leaves that store nutrients. When the nutrients are
removed, the leaves collapse.
 Rhizomes-are underground stems that grow near the soil surface. They typically have short
internodes and scale leaves, and produce roots along their lower surface. They store food for
renewing growth of the shoot after periods of stress.
 Corms-are stubby, vertically oriented stems that grow underground, have only a few thin leaves,
and store nutrients.
 Tubers-are swollen regions of stems that store food for subsequent growth.
Orchid: Oncidium sphacelatum

Cypress:

Mangrove: Rhizophora mangles

Alfalfa: Medicago sativa

Peas: Pisum sativum

Clover: Trifolium
Peanut: Arachis hypogaea

Turnip: Brassica rapa

Carrot: Daucus carota

Sweet potato: Ipomoea batatas

WATER-STORING STEMS
These stems, you might guess, are stems specializing in storing
water for the plant's use between rains. Instead of being woody, like
tree stems, usually they are fairly soft and uncommonly thick, or
"bloated-looking." The most famous such stems are those of the
cacti, one of which is shown at the right. Another common potted
plant with water-storing stems is the Jade Plant. Backyard weeds
with water-storing stems include spurge, purslane, and milkweed.
-

CORMS
If you take a regular, aboveground, single, straight stem with its various nodes, and, keeping it
standing vertically, squeeze it downward until it becomes wider
than tall, and bury it underground, you'll have a corm. Corms,
then, are unlike stolons and rhizomes because they usually grow
vertically, instead of lying horizontally. They're unlike tubers in
that  tubers are typically attached to the main plant by a slender
rootlike part of the stem, a sort of umbilical cord, while corms
constitute the below-ground "heart" of the plant, the part from
which aboveground stems and leaves directly sprout. In the
corm shown here, notice the horizontal band running across its
middle. That's a node just like the nodes that are so conspicuous
on the bamboo stem at the bottom of our Stem Page. Notice the
roots emerging from the base of the corm. Gladiolus, crocus,
and tuberous begonias all arise from corms.

RHIZOMES
At first glance rhizomes are like underground stolons, but
there's an important difference between them: Each stolon
is just one of what may be several stems radiating from the plant's center. Rhizomes, in contrast,
are the main stem. If a tree grew with its trunk horizontal below the ground, with its side
branches emerging aboveground, the buried trunk would be a rhizome. The thick, fleshy "roots"
of irises, cannas, and water lilies are actually rhizomes. So are the whitish, thumb-thick items at
the right. What you see there are the succulent rhizomes of Johnson Grass, just dug from my
garden. The horizontal part was growing about an inch below the ground's surface. In the picture
you can spot the nodes in the horizontal section because the nodes are dark brown, while the
internodes are mostly whitish.

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