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Arshia ShabirWhat is an Adaptation?
Any feature of an organism or its part which
enables it to exist under conditions of its
habitat is called adaptation.
Adaptations are for:
Withstand adverse conditions of an
environment.
Utilize maximum benefit of environment.
Hydrophytes:
Hydrophytes are plants that grow in regions, where, there
is plenty of water supply or wet soils.
The hydrophytes are generally classified into the
following five categories:
Freefloating hydrophytes
Submerged floating hydrophytes
Rooted submerged hydrophytes
Rooted hydrophytes with floating leaves
Rooted emergent hydrophytes
Free floating hydrophytes:
They float freely on the surface of water.
e.g., Eichornia, Pistia, Wolffia, and Lemna)
Eichornia Wolfia Lemna
Submerged floating hydrophytes: These are the plants in contact with only water, being completely submerged & not rooted in mud e.g., Utricularia, Ceratophyllum, Najas, etc.
Najas
Ceratophyllum
Rooted submerged hydrophytes:
They are submerged in the water but roots are fixed. E.g., Hydrilla, Vallisneria, Potamogeton.
Hydrilla Vallisneria
Potamogeton
Rooted hydrophytes with floating
leaves: The roots of the plants are fixed in the soil while
leaves are floating on the surface of water. E.g., Nymphaea,
Victoria, Trapa.
Nymphaea Victoria Trapa
Rooted emergent hydrophytes:
They grow in marshy areas. Plants that partly in water and partly in air. E.g., Ranunculus,
Sagitaria, Typha.
Typha Sagitaria
Ranunculus
Morphological Adaptations of Hydrophytes:
Roots:
Poorly developed or absent in plants
like Wolfia.
Root hairs are absent in certain plants.
Root caps are replaced by root pockets(Eichornia,
pistia).
The roots act as a balancing and anchoring organs.
Aerial roots are developed in certain plants.
Stem:
It is long, slender & thin.
It is green in color so carry
out photosynthesis.
In some floating forms stem
is spongy (Eicchornia).
Stem helps in reproduction by stolons and offsets.
Stem is a rhizome in rooted plants with free
floating leaves E.g.,: Nymphaea and Nelumbo.
Leaves:
•In many floating forms leaves
are deposited with wax
(Nymphaea,Victoria regia).
•In submerged forms they are
reduced and thin.
•In emergent hydrophytes leaves
are of two types dissected leaves
in water and aerial leaves are well developed.
Anatomical Adaptations:
1. The root and shoot systems show common features such as cuticle which
is very thin or absent.
2. Epidermis is usually a single layer of thin walled cells, not protective in
function.
3. Cortex is well developed. It has numerous air chambers. It helps in
buoyancy and rapid gaseous exchange.
4. Mechanical tissues are generally absent.
5. In the vascular tissue, xylem vessels are less common. Only tracheids
are present in submerged forms.
6. In amphibious form, the xylem and phloem are well developed.
7. Epidermal cells of Phloem contain chloroplasts and they can
function as photosynthetic tissue, especially where the leaves and stems are
very thin. eg. Hydrilla
Anatomical Adaptations:
8. Stomata are totally absent in submerged, but in floating
leaves, stomata are confined only to the upper surface. In
amphibious plants stomata may be scattered on all the aerial
parts.
9. In submerged leaves, air chambers are filled with
respiratory and other gases and moisture.
10. In Water Lilly (Nymphaea) and some other plants, special
type of star shaped lignified cells called asterosclereids are
developed. It gives mechanical support to the plants.
12. Mucilage cells and mucilage canals secrete mucilage to
protect the plant body from decay under water.
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