Plant structure, form and function

Fall 2014

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.

 Terminal bud
Lateral bud Young leaf
Reproductive shoot with flower

Node
Internode
Vegetative shoot

Node

Shoots Leaf blade Leaves

Vascular tissues
Mature leaf

Seeds
in fruit

Ground tissues
Dermal tissues Withered seed leaf
(cotyledon)
Shoot system
Root system
Root hairs
Primary root (not to scale)
Roots
Lateral root
The Plant Body
Root tip
Root cap Fig. 27.2, p. 664
The Plant Body
 The Shoot System  The Root System
 Above ground (usually)  Underground (usually)
 Elevates the plant above the  Anchor the plant in the soil
soil  Absorb water and nutrients
 Many functions including:  Conduct water and nutrients
• photosynthesis  Food Storage
• reproduction & dispersal
• food and water conduction
 The shoot system includes the
vegetative shoot (stem with
attached leaves and buds) and
the reproductive shoot
(producing flowers which later
develop fruits containing
seeds) Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
The Three Plant Tissue Systems
 Dermal Tissue
• Generally a single layer of cells
• The "skin" of the plant
• Primarily parenchyma cells
• Main role is protection of the plant

 Ground Tissue
• Makes up the bulk of the plant
• Predominately parenchyma, but collenchyma and schlerenchyma cells
are found
• Diverse functions including photosynthesis, storage, and support

 Vascular Tissue
• Involved in the transport of water, ions, minerals, and food
• Also has a secondary role in support
• Composed of xylem, phloem, parenchyma, schlerenchyma
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Ground, Vascular, and Dermal Tissues

Animation: Tissue systems of a tomato plant

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Fig. 27.6, p. 669
 Ground Tissues and Cell types

Collenchyma Cells
Parenchyma Cells • Flexible support Sclerenchyma Cells
• Soft primary tissues • Thicker primary cell walls • Rigid support and
• Thin primary cell walls, • Elongated cells in strands protection
pliable and permeable or sheath-like cylinder • Thick secondary cell walls
• Specialized for storage, • Strengthen plant parts still
secretion, photosynthesis elongating
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Fig. 27.7, p. 669
 Vascular Tissues: Xylem
 Xylem
• Conducts water and dissolved
minerals
• Flows “bottom-up”
• Thick, lignified secondary walls
• Dead when functional
• Walls contain pits for lateral
movement of water
• 2 types of water-conducting
cells
• Tracheids
• Vessel members
Fig. 27.9, p. 671

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.

 Vascular Tissues: Phloem
 Phloem
• Conduct sugars and other
solutes
• Living when functional
• “source-sink” movement
• Sieve tube members
• Joined end to end in sieve
tubes
• Sieve tube cells assisted by
companion cells
• End walls (sieve plates)
studded with pores

Fig. 27.10, p. 671

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Vascular tissues are specialized for long-distance transport

http://thomson.fosterscience.com/Biology/Unit-ProtistsFungiPlants/SeedPlantsNotes.htm

Animation: Vascular tissues

 a. Long distance transport
throughout the plant
Transport Routes in Plants
Cells load and unload
organic molecules
into and out of phloem b. Transport in
water exits the plant vascular tissues
from leaves
Xylem:
Sugar from transport of
photosynthesis
H2O and O2
Vascular tissue Phloem:
distributes substances transport of
throughout the plant, sugars
sometimes over
great distances.

Water and mineral c. Short distance

ions travel from root Transport transport across cell
hairs into xylem in Phloem Transport membranes into roots
vessels by passing in Xylem
through or between
cells

Water and solutes from

soil enter plant roots
through the plasma
membrane of root hairs. Sugar from
photosynthesis Mineral
ions Minerals

Fig. 28.1, p. 689

Long-Distance Transport of Water and
Minerals in the Xylem
 Transpiration
• Evaporation of water out of plants = “Pulling force”
• Greater than water used in growth and metabolism
• Stomata regulates loss of water by transpiration

 Cohesion-tension mechanism of water transport

• Evaporation from mesophyll walls
• Replacement by cohesion (H-bonded) water in xylem
• Tension, negative pressure gradient, adhesion of
water to xylem walls adds to tension
 Root pressure contributes to upward water movement in
some plants
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Transport of Organic Substances in the
Phloem
 Organic compounds are stored and transported in
different forms (ie. sugars, amino acids, hormones, and organic
compounds, etc)

 Organic solutes move by translocation

• Translocation=Long-distance transport of substances via phloem
• Phloem sap (water & organic compounds) flow through sieve
tubes
• Phloem sap moves from source to sink under pressure (ie.
Pressure flow mechanism)
• Differences in pressure between source (where organic
substances are loaded into phloem, ex. mature leaves) and sink
(where organic substances are unloaded into phloem, ex.
growing tissues and storage regions ) regions drive the flow
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Pressure flow
mechanism moves
substances by bulk
flow under pressure
from sources to sinks
based on water
potential gradients

Fig. 28.16b, p. 704

Dermal Tissue
 Epidermis covers primary plant body
• Waxy cuticle layer restricts water loss
• Pairs of guard cells in leaf epidermis create stomata (openings)
for gas exchange

 Epidermal specializations
• Trichomes (hairs)
• Absorbent root hairs

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Fig. 27.11, p. 672
Shoot System

Consists of main stem,

leaves, buds, flowers
and fruits

Functions:
Mechanical support
House vascular
tissues
May store food and
water
Buds and meristems
for growth
Leaves carry out
Fig. 27.2, p. 664
photosynthesis and
gas exchange
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
 Stem Structure and SAM
Terminal bud Leaf primordium
Shoot
Apical Meristem
Shoot
Lateral bud in axil Apical
Meristem
(SAM)

Node
Apical meristems: Regions of
Internode constantly dividing cells near tips
of shoots (SAM) and roots (RAM)
that produce all tissues of the
Node plant body

SAM produces cells that will

become new organs: leaves,
axillary buds, and branches etc.
Fig. 27.12a, p. 673
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Leaves
 Blade
• Large surface area for
absorbing sunlight and
carbon dioxide
 Petiole (in eudicots)
• Attaches leaf to stem
 Containing chloroplast for
photosynthesis
 Leaf surface contains
stomata, the openings for Fig. 27.16, p. 675

gas exchange

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.

 a. Typical structure of an angiosperm leaf

Upper
Cuticle
epidermis

Leaf vein Palisade

(vascular bundle): mesophyll
Phloem

Xylem
Spongy
Products of mesophyll
photosynthesis
enter vein and
depart from the Lower
leaf (purple
arrow). epidermis

Water moves Cuticle

from roots to
stems, then into Stoma between
leaf vein (blue two guard cells
arrow).

Oxygen and water vapor depart Carbon dioxide from the air enters
from the leaf through stomata. the leaf through stomata.
Fig. 27.18a, p. 677
Flowers
 Flower develops from end of
floral shoot, the receptacle

 Four concentric whorls of

tissues:
• Sepals: Nonfertile,
vegetative
• Petals: Nonfertile,
vegetative
• Stamens: Fertile,
location of male
gametophytes
• Carpels: Fertile, location
of female gametophytes
Fig. 29.4, p. 711
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Seeds
 Mature seeds are
essentially dehydrated

 Seed dormancy prevents

germination

 Particular factors may

trigger germination
• Moisture, oxygen,
temperature, number
of daylight hours, and
more
Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Root System
 Absorb water and
dissolved minerals

 Conduct water and

minerals to aerial plant
parts

 Anchor and support

aboveground parts

 Store nutrients produced

by photosynthesis Animation: Root cross section

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Root Structure

Animation: Root organization

Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.