Plant Anatomy: An Overview

Simpson, MG (2006). Plant Systematics

Eames and McDaniels (1953). Introduction to Plant Anatomy
 Introduction
Definition
• Plant anatomy –the study of the internal
structure of various parts of the plant

Applications of plant anatomy

• Taxonomic application
– e.g. problem plants
• Proper authentication of crude drug material
– For safety and quality to be maintained
– Morphology and anatomy of drug source is
published in British and English pharmacopoeias
 Introduction
Applications of plant anatomy
• Avoids food adulterants and contaminants
Mango (Mangifera indica L)

Sambong (Blumea balsamifera L)

 •FORENSIC APPLICATIONS
Forensic botany refers to the use of plant materials to help solve crimes or
resolve other legal problems. 

The first botanical testimony to be heard in a

North American court concerned the analysis of
the wood grain of the ladder used in the
kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., and led to
the conviction of Bruno Hauptmann for the
crime in 1935.

Xylotomist Arthur Koehler of the United States Forest

Service undertook a meticulous examination of the ladder
and when the case finally came to trial four years later,
offered the first botanical testimony ever to be heard and
accepted in American courts.
 LIVING ORGANISMS The five-kingdom
system prevailed in
biology for over 20
years.
Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
Kingdom
Monera
Unicell/simple Multicellular
multicellular organisms
organisms
Kingdom
Protista
Autotroph Heterotroph
Kingdom
Plantae
Saprophytes Ingestion of
Kingdom other
Fungi organisms
Kingdom
Animalia
 LIVING ORGANISMS

•During the last three

decades, systematists
applying cladistic analysis,
including the construction
of cladograms based on
molecular data, have been
identifying problems with
the five-kingdom system.
 The Land Plants
=Embryophyta (embryophytes)

• The first colonization of plants on land

during the Silurian period, ca. 400 million
years ago.
• Land Plants now dominate the earth.
 GAMETOPHYTE
(n)
mitosis
Spores
(n)

meiosis
Archegonium Antheridium
(n) (n) } lost by reduction and modification
in the Angiosperms
produce and some Gnetales
Sporocyte HAPLODIPLONTIC
(2n) ("Alternation of (Sperm non-flagellate in Conifers,
Gnetales, and Angiosperms)
Generations") Egg Sperm
(n) (n)
Sporangium
(2n)
fertilization

SPOROPHYTE
(2n ) Zygote

mitosis mitosis (2n)

Embryo
(2n)
 antheridium
antheridium

sperm cells
Marchantia (liverwort) Mnium (moss)
 egg cell

neck

archegonium

Marchantia (liverwort)
 Mosses
Hornworts
Liverworts

“Bryophytes”
•Vascular plants/ Tracheophytes
- Xylem tissue, true roots, stems & leaves.
Fern and allies/ cryptogams: Spores but no seeds

1.Division Psilophyta (Psilotum or whisk fern)

2.Division Lycophyta (club mosses)
3.Division Sphenophyta (horsetails).
4.Division Pterophyta (ferns).
Spermatophytes/ phanerogams: Seed Plants
•Gymnosperms--Naked Seeds
5. Division Cycadophyta (cycads)
6. Division Ginkgophyta (maidenhair tree).
7. Division Gnetophyta (mormon tea & Welwitschia).
8. Division Coniferophyta (conifers)
•Angiosperms--Seeds Enclosed In A Fruit
9. Division Anthophyta (flowering plants)
Selaginella Equisetum

Lycopodiella cernua Psilotum

GENERAL STRUCTURE OF
HIGHER PLANTS
 shoot apical meristem
leaf terminal bud
axillary bud
blade vascular tissue
petiole
node
Shoot
system internode
vascular tissue

vascular tissue

Root
system Lateral roots
dermal tissue
root apical meristem
ground tissue
root cap root tip vascular tissue
 Stelar types

eustele atactostele
Pericycle
 Plant Tissues & Cell Types

Tissue:
= group of cells with common function or structure.
Three broad tissue types:
1) Dermal - outside layer(s)
2) Vascular - conduction
3) Ground - between dermal and vascular
Simple vs. Complex Tissue:
1 versus 2 or more cell types
 Ground Tissue

Parenchyma: Gen. metabol. Collenchyma: support

1) Isodiametric to elongate 1) Elongate
2) Primary cell wall 2) Primary cell wall thick, uneven,
3) Living rich in pectins
3) Living
 Ground Tissue
Sclerenchyma
1) Secondary cell wall (+ primary)
2) Dead at maturity (usually)

Fibers
Elongate, sharply tapering
 Ground Tissue
Sclerenchyma
1) Secondary cell wall (+ primary)
2) Dead at maturity (usually)

Sclereids
Isodiametric to irregular
 3 recognized vegetative organs
• ROOT
• STEM
• LEAF

- Distinguished by the relative distribution of

the vascular and ground tissues
ROOT vs Stem
ROOTS vs STEM
 Leaves

Vascular Bundles of similar have a large central Vascular Bundle

dimensions. called a Midrib
DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PLANT BODY
• Carpels and stamens
– Contain the sporangia
• Sporangium
– Contains the spores
– Chambers where male and female gametophytes develop
• Male gametophyte
– Sperm-containing pollen grain
• Female gametophyte
– Egg-containing structures called embryo sacs
– Embryo sac develop within the ovules
• Development of male gametophyte (Pollen)
• Development of female gametophyte
(Embryo sac)
• Pollination
integument

micropyle
funiculus
POLLINATION
Embryogenesis
1. Transversie and Asymmetric division
---Establishment of polarity

Terminal cell– embryo

Balsal– suspensor

2. Organizaation of Tissue system

During the early stages of embryogenesis, cell
division
takes place throughout the young sporophyte. As
the embryo develops, however, the addition of new
cells gradually becomes restricted to opposite ends of
the axis, the apical meristems of future root and shoot
Seed Dormancy Seed Germination