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Plant Anatomy
Internal structure of plants
What Is the Basic Body Plan of
Plants?
Plants live by harvesting energy from sunlight and by collecting water
and mineral nutrients from the soil.
These resources, however, are incredibly sparse in the environment,
So plants face the challenge of collecting them from huge areas, both
above and below ground.
Another challenge plants face is their inability to move. Plants cannot
relocate themselves from
Say, a dry, shady location to one that is wet and sunny.
What Is the Basic Body Plan of
Plants?
The plant body plan allows plants to respond to these challenges.
Stems, leaves, and roots enable plants anchored to one spot to capture
scarce resources effectively, both above and below the ground.
More important, to compensate for their inability to move, plants can
grow throughout their lifetimes
Thus, while plants cannot move to a new water source or a new sunny
clearing,
They can respond to environmental cues by redirecting their growth to
exploit opportunities that arise in their immediate environment.
Plant Body
Plant organs are organized into two
systems
1. Root system
2. Shoot system
The cell theory
The cell theory, in its modern form, includes the following three
principles:
1. All organisms are composed of one or more cells, and the life
processes of metabolism and heredity occur within these cells.
2. Cells are the smallest living things, the basic units of organization of
all organisms.
The cell theory
3. Cells arise only by division of a previously existing cell.
Although life likely evolved spontaneously in the environment of the
early earth,
Biologists have concluded that no additional cells are originating
spontaneously at present.
Rather, life on earth represents a continuous line of descent from those
early cells
Organization of life
Like animal cells, plant cells are organized into tissues.
A tissue is a group of cells that forms a structural and functional unit.
Some plant tissues (simple tissues) are composed of only one kind of
cell,
Whereas other plant tissues (complex tissues) have two or more
kinds of cells.
In vascular plants, tissues are organized into three tissue systems,
each of which extends throughout the plant body
DERMAL TISSUE SYSTEM
The dermal tissue system forms the epidermis, or outer covering, of
a plant, which usually consists of a single cell layer.
The stems and roots of woody plants develop a dermal tissue called
periderm.
Like our skin, it forms the first line of defense against physical damage
and pathogens.
In non-woody plants, it is usually a single tissue called the epidermis
DERMAL TISSUE SYSTEM
During plant development, the epidermis must grow to cover the
expanding plant body.
The cells of the epidermis are small and round and usually have a small
central vacuole or none at all.
Once cell division ceases in the epidermis of an organ, the epidermal
cells expand.
Some epidermal cells differentiate to form one of three specialized
structures:
DERMAL TISSUE SYSTEM
• Stomatal guard cells, which form stomata (pores) for gas exchange in
leaves
• Root hairs, which greatly increase root surface area, thus providing
more surface for the uptake of water and mineral nutrients.
Trichomes, or leaf hairs, which provide protection against insects and
damaging solar radiation
In some desert species, hairlike trichomes reduce water loss and reflect
excess light.
Some trichomes defend against insects through shapes that hinder
movement or glands that secrete sticky fluids or toxic compounds
DERMAL TISSUE SYSTEM
DERMAL TISSUE SYSTEM
Aboveground epidermal cells secrete a protective extracellular
cuticle made of cutin (a polymer composed of long chains of
fatty acids),
A complex mixture of waxes, and cell wall polysaccharides.
The cuticle limits water loss, reflects potentially damaging solar
radiation, and serves as a barrier against pathogens.
GROUND TISSUE SYSTEM
Virtually all the tissue lying between dermal tissue and vascular tissue
in both shoots and roots is part of the ground tissue system,
Which therefore makes up most of the plant body.
Ground tissue functions primarily in storage, support, and
photosynthesis
To fulfill these diverse functions, ground tissues incorporate three cell
types that are classified according to their cell wall structure:
1. Parenchyma,
2. Collenchyma, and
3. Schlerenchyma.
The Parenchyma
Parenchyma tissue, a simple tissue composed of parenchyma cells,
is found throughout the plant body and is the most common type of cell
and tissue
The soft parts of a plant, such as the edible part of an apple or a potato,
consist largely of parenchyma.
Mature parenchyma cells have primary walls that are relatively thin
and flexible, and most lack secondary walls.
When mature, parenchyma cells generally have a large central vacuole.
Parenchyma cells perform most of the metabolic functions of the plant,
synthesizing and storing various organic products.
The Parenchyma
Parenchyma cells perform a number of important functions for plants,
such as
1. Photosynthesis,
2. Storage, and
3. Secretion
The Parenchyma
Materials stored in parenchyma cells include starch grains, oil droplets,
water, and salts (sometimes visible as crystals).
Resins, tannins, hormones, enzymes, and sugary nectar are examples
of substances that parenchyma cells may secrete.
The various functions of parenchyma require that they be living and
metabolizing cells
The Parenchyma
Parenchyma cells have the ability to differentiate into other kinds of
cells, particularly when a plant is injured.
If xylem (water-conducting cells) is severed, for example, adjacent
parenchyma calls may divide and differentiate into new xylem cells
within a few days.
The parenchyma
Collenchyma
Collenchyma tissue, a simple tissue composed of collenchyma cells,
is a flexible tissue that provides much of the support in soft,
Nonwoody plant Support is a crucial function in plants, in part because
it allows plants to grow upward,
Thus enabling them to compete with other plants for available sunlight
in a plant-crowded area.
Instead of the bony skeletal system that is typical of many animals,
individual cells, including collenchyma cells, provide support for the
plant body
Collenchyma
Collenchyma cells are usually elongated.
Their primary cell walls are unevenly thickened and are especially thick
in the corners.
Collenchyma is not found uniformly throughout the plant and often
occurs as long strands near stem surfaces and along leaf veins
The “strings” in a stalk (petiole), for example, consist of collenchyma.
Sclerenchyma
The root of the word sclerenchyma is the Greek word root sclero, “hard.”
These cells have both primary and secondary cell walls.
The secondary cell walls of sclerenchyma cells become strong and
hard due to extreme thickening.
In sclerenchyma cells, the secondary cell wall, produced after cell
elongation has ceased, is thick and contains large amounts of lignin,
A relatively indigestible strengthening polymer that accounts for more
than a quarter of the dry mass of wood.
At functional maturity, when sclerenchyma tissue is providing support
for the plant body, sclerenchyma cells are often dead.
Sclerenchyma
Sclerenchyma
Lignin is present in all vascular plants but not in bryophytes.
Sclerenchyma cells are so specialized for support that many are dead at
functional maturity, but they produce secondary walls before the
protoplast (the living part of the cell) dies.
The rigid walls remain as a “skeleton” that supports the plant, in some
cases for hundreds of years
Sclerenchyma
Two types of sclerenchyma cells, known as
1. Sclereids and
2. fibers,
are specialized entirely for support and strengthening.
Sclereids, which are boxier than fibers and irregular in shape, have very
thick, lignified secondary walls.
Sclereids impart the hardness to nutshells and seed coats and the gritty
texture to pear fruits.
Sclerenchyma
Fibers, which are usually grouped in strands, are long, slender, and
tapered. Some are used commercially, such as hemp
fibers for making rope and flax fibers for weaving into linen
The vascular tissue system
The vascular tissue system, which is embedded in the
ground tissue, transports needed materials
throughout the plant via two complex tissues:
1. Xylem and
2. Phloem
The Xylem
Xylem conducts water and dissolved minerals from the roots to the stems
and leaves and provides structural support.
In flowering plants, xylem is a complex tissue composed of four different cell
types:
I. Tracheids,
II. vessel elements,
III. parenchyma cells, and
IV. fibers.
Two of the four cell types found in xylem—the tracheids and vessel elements
— actually conduct water and dissolved minerals
In addition to these cells, xylem contains parenchyma cells, known as
xylem parenchyma, that perform storage functions, and xylem fi bers
that provide support
Flowering plants possess efficient water-conducting cells called vessel
elements, in addition to relatively few tracheids.
The cell diameters of vessel elements are usually greater than those of
tracheids.
Vessel elements are hollow, but unlike tracheids, they have holes in
their end walls known as perforations, or the end walls are entirely
dissolved away.
Vessel elements are stacked one on top of the other, and water is
conducted readily from one vessel element into the next
A stack of vessel elements, called a vessel, resembles a miniature
water pipe.
Vessel elements also have pits in their side walls that permit the lateral
transport (sideways movement) of water from one vessel to another.
Phloem- Food conducting tissue
Phloem conducts food materials—that is, carbohydrates
formed in photosynthesis—throughout the plant and provides
structural support.
In flowering plants, phloem is a complex tissue composed of
four different cell types:
1. Sieve-tube elements,
2. Companion cells,
3. Phloem fibers, and
4. Phloem parenchyma cells
Phloem- Food conducting tissue
Food materials are conducted in solution—that is,
dissolved in water—through the sieve-tube
elements, which are among the most specialized
living cells in nature
Sieve-tube elements are long, thin cells that are
stacked end on end to form long sieve tubes.
The cell’s end walls, called sieve plates, have a
series of holes through which cytoplasm extends from
one sieve-tube element into the next.
Phloem- Food conducting tissue
Sieve-tube elements are alive at maturity, but many of their
organelles, including the nucleus, vacuole, mitochondria, and
ribosomes, disintegrate as they mature.
Sieve-tube elements are among the few eukaryotic cells that
function without nuclei, although they typically live for less than
a year.
There are, however, notable exceptions: certain palms have
sieve-tube elements that remain alive approximately 100 years
Phloem- Food conducting tissue
Adjacent to each sieve-tube element is a companion cell that assists
in the functioning of the sieve-tube element.
The companion cell is a living cell, complete with a nucleus.
This nucleus is thought to direct the activities of both the companion
cell and the sieve-tube element.
Phloem- Food conducting tissue
Numerous plasmodesmata (sing., plasmodesma) occur
between a companion cell and its sieve-tube element.
Recall that plasmodesmata are cytoplasmic channels
through the cell walls of adjacent plant cells
Although the companion cell does not conduct nutrients
itself, it plays an essential role in loading food materials into
the sieve-tube elements for transport to other parts of the
plant.
