Basic plant structure

Objectives

To provide an introduction to the

basic structure of plants, and
To enable you to identify the various
tissues and organs
General Plant Organization
A plant has two organ systems:
1. The shoot system, and
2. The root system.
The above ground shoot system includes
leaves, buds, stems, flowers, and fruits.
The root system includes the below
ground parts: roots, tubers, and
rhizomes.
 Major organ systems of the
plant body

LH image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates
(www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com) RH illustration from
gopher://wiscinfo.wisc.edu:2070/I9/.image/.bot/.130/Intr._Plant_Body_Spring_/Primary_130
_Lab_Images/Bean_whole_morphology
General plant organization

Plant cells are formed at meristems,

and then develop into cell types
which are grouped into tissues.
Plants have only three tissue types:
1. Dermal;
2. Ground; and
3. Vascular.
 Dermal tissue

Covers the outer surface of

herbaceous plants.
Composed of epidermal cells
Closely packed cells secreting a waxy
cuticle to help prevent water loss
 Ground tissue

The bulk of the primary plant body.

Parenchyma, collenchyma, and
sclerenchyma cells are common in
the ground tissue.
 Vascular tissue

Transports food, water, hormones

and minerals within the plant.
Includes xylem, phloem,
parenchyma, and cambium cells.
Two views of the structure
of the root and root
meristem

images from Purves et al., Life: The Science of

Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates
(www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman
(www.whfreeman.com)
General plant organisation
Plant cell types rise by mitosis from a
meristem.
A meristem is a region of localized mitosis.
Meristems may be at the tip of the shoot or
root ( meristem) or , in cylinders
extending the length of the plant.
Cambium is lateral meristem producing
(usually) secondary growth.
Secondary growth produces both wood and
cork (but from separate secondary meristems)
 Parenchyma
Generalised plant cells that are alive at
maturity.
Function in storage, photosynthesis, and as the
bulk of ground and vascular tissues.
Palisade parenchyma cells are elongated
cells found in many leaves just below the
epidermal tissue.
Spongy mesophyll cells occur below the one or
two layers of palisade cells.
 Parenchyma
Ray parenchyma cells occur in wood rays
Structures that transport materials laterally
within a woody stem.
Parenchyma cells also occur in the xylem
and phloem of vascular bundles.
The largest parenchyma cells are in the
pith region
Often, as in corn ( ), being larger than the
vascular bundles.
 Diagram of leaf structure.

Note the arrangement of tissue layers within the

leaf.
image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates
(www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com)
 Collenchyma

Support the plant.

Characterised by thickenings of the wall,
are alive at maturity.
Tend to occur as part of vascular
bundles or on the corners of angular
stems.
 Sclerenchyma
Also support the plant.
Often occur as bundle cap fibres.
Characterized by thickenings in their secondary
walls.
Dead at maturity.
A common type is the fibre
Some occur in the fruits of Pear.
These (sclereids or stone cells) give pears their
gritty texture.
 Xylem
A term applied to woody (lignin-
impregnated) walls of certain plant
cells
Tend to conduct water and minerals
from roots to leaves.
Parenchyma cells occur to a small extent
in the xylem
The more identifiable cells are tracheids
and vessel elements
 Xylem

Tracheids are the more primitive

Occur in the earliest vascular plants.
Long and tapered, angled end-plates
connect cell to cell.
Vessel elements shorter, much wider,
and lack end plates.
Occur only in angiosperms, the most
recently evolved large group of plants.
Xylem cells
image from
gopher://wiscinf
o.wisc.edu:2070/
I9/.image/.bot/.
130/Stem/Zea_c
ross_section/Vas
cular_Bundle_lab
elled.
 Xylem cells

Image from http://www.biosci.uga.edu/almanac/bio_104/notes/apr_9.html

 Tracheids
Longer, and narrower than most
vessels, appear first in the fossil
record.
Vessels occur later.
Tracheids have obliquely-angled
endwalls cut across by bars.
The evolutionary trend in vessels is for
shorter cells, with no bars on the
endwalls.
 Conducting cells of the xylem

Tracheids (LH) are

more primitive

The various types

of vessels (the
other 3) are more
advanced.
image from Purves et al., Life: The
Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by
Sinauer Associates
(www.sinauer.com) and WH
Freeman (www.whfreeman.com)
Conductive Vessel Element in Mountain
Mahogany Wood (SEM x750).

This image is
copyright
Dennis
Kunkel at
www.DennisK
unkel.com
 Phloem
Conduct food from leaves to rest of the
plant.
Alive at maturity
Usually located outside the xylem.
The two most common cells in the phloem
are the companion cells and sieve cells.
Companion cells retain their nucleus and
control adjacent sieve cells.
Dissolved food, as sucrose, flows through the
sieve cells.
 Phloem cells

Image cropped from

gopher://wiscinfo.wisc.edu:2070/I9/.image/.bot/.130/Cells_and_Tissues/Cucu
rbita_Stem/Cross_Section/Phloem/Sieve-plate
Phloem cells

image from
http://www
.biosci.uga.e
du/almanac
/bio_104/no
tes/apr_9.ht
ml.
Longitudinal view of phloem cells

Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by

Sinauer Associates (www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman
(www.whfreeman.com)
 Epidermal Cells

Epidermis
Helps prevent water loss and acts as a
barrier to fungi and other invaders.
Closely packed, with little intercellular
space.
Many plants also have a waxy cuticle
layer deposited on top of the epidermal
cells.
 Epidermal cells

Guard Cells
To facilitate gas exchange, plants have a
series of openings known as stomata.
These openings allow gas exchange at a cost
of water loss.
Guard cells are bean-shaped cells
covering the stomata opening.
Regulate exchange of water vapour, O2 and
CO2 through the stoma.
 Epidermal cells, including
guard cells, of maize

from
gopher://wiscinfo.wisc.edu:2070/I9/.image/.bot/.130/Leaf/Corn_epidermal_peel