Plant Structure, Growth, and Reproduction Flashcards
Adventitious Root
root that arises from any point other than the radicle (embryonic root) or the root axis of a plant.
Ariel Root
a type of root wherein it grows from the stem of the plant, i.e. above the ground.
Annual
A plant that completes its life cycle in a single year or growing season.
Apical Dominance
the hormonal inhibition of axillary buds by a terminal bud
Axillary Bud
An embryonic shoot present in the angle formed by a leaf and stem.
Bark
All the tissues external to the vascular cambium in a plant that is growing in thickness.
Biennial
A plant that completes its life cycle in two years.
Clone
a single organism that is genetically identical to another because it arose from the cloning of a somatic cell
Collenchyma Cell
a cell with a thick primary wall and no secondary wall, functioning mainly in supporting growing parts.
Companion Cell
a cell connected to a sieve-tube element whose nucleus and ribosomes provide proteins for the sieve-tube element.
Compound Leaf
a leaf where the blade is divided, forming leaflets.
Corm
a short, vertical, swollen underground stem of a plant that serves as a storage organ to enable the plant to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as drought.
Cork
The outermost protective layer of a plant’s bark
Cork Cambium
Meristematic tissue that produces cork cells during secondary growth of a plant.
Cortex
the part of the ground tissue system that is between the vascular tissue and the dermal tissue in a root or eudicot stem.
Cotyledon
The first leaf that appears on an embryo of a flowering plant; a seed leaf. Monocot embryos have one; dicot embryos have two.
Dermal Tissue System
The outer protective covering of plants.
Determinate Growth
Growth that ends after an organisms reaches a certain size, as in most animals.
Dicot
the seed has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons.
Embryo Sac
The female gametophyte contained in the ovule of a flowering plant.
Endodermis
The innermost layer (a one-cell-thick cylinder) of the cortex of a plant root; forms a selective barrier determining which substances pass from the cortex into the vascular tissue.
Eudicot
Member of a group that consists of the vast majority of flowering plants that have two embryonic seed leaves, or cotyledons.
Fiber
a long, slender sclerenchyma cell that usually occurs in a bundle
Fibrous Root
Thin, branched roots that arise from the base of the stem
Fragmentation
A means of asexual reproduction whereby a single parent breaks into parts that regenerate into whole new individuals.
Germinate
To start developing or growing.
Ground Tissue System
A tissue of mostly parenchyma cells that makes up the bulk of a young plant and is continuous throughout its body.
Guard Cell
A specialized epidermal cell in plants that regulates the size of a stoma, allowing gas exchange between the surrounding air and the photosynthetic cells in the leaf.
Heartwood
In the center of trees, the darkened, older layers of secondary xylem made up of cells that no longer transport water and are clogged with resins.
Inter-determinate Growth
Growth that continues throughout life, as in most plants
Internode
The portion of a plant stem between two nodes.
Lateral Meristem
Plant tissue made up of undifferentiated cells that enable roots and shoots of woody plants to thicken. The vascular cambium and cork cambium are lateral meristems.
Leaves
The main site of photosynthesis in a plant
Meristem
Plant tissue consisting of undifferentiated cells that divide and generate new cells and tissues.
Mesophyll
Leaf cells specialized for photosynthesis; a leaf’s ground tissue system.
Monocot
A flowering plant whose embryos have a single seed leaf, or cotyledon.
Node
The point of attachment of a leaf on a stem.
Organ
A specialized structure composed of several different types of tissues that together perform specific functions.
Palmately Compound
has its leaflets radiating outwards from the end of the petiole
Parenchyma Cell
a relatively unspecialized cell with a thin primary wall and no secondary wall; functions in photosynthesis, food storage, and aerobic respiration.
Perennial
A plant that lives for many years.
Pinnately Compound
A leaf which is divided into smaller leaflets, those leaflets arranged on each side of the leaf’s central stalk
Pistil
Part of the reproductive organ of an angiosperm, a single carpel or a group of fused carpels.
Pith
Part of the ground tissue system of a dicot plant; fills the center of a stem and may store food.
Pnuematophore
specialized root structures that grow out from the water surface and facilitate the aeration necessary for root respiration in hydrophytic trees
Pollination
In seed plants, the delivery by wind or animals of pollen from the pollen-producing parts of a plant to a female cone (in gymnosperms) or the stigma of a carpel (in angiosperms).
Primary Growth
Growth in the length of a plant root or shoot, produced by an apical meristem.
Primary Phloem
the type of phloem produced by the primary meristem of a vascular plant.
Primary Xylem
the xylem that is formed during the primary growth from procambium of apical meristems
Prop Root
a root that grows from and supports the stem above the ground
Rhizome
A horizontal stem of a plant that grows below the ground.
Root Cap
A cone of cells at the tip of a plant root that protects the root’s apical meristem.
Root Hair
An outgrowth of an epidermal cell on a root, which increases the root’s absorptive surface area.
Root System
All of a plant’s roots, which anchor it in the soil, absorb and transport minerals and water, and store food.
Sap wood
Light-colored, water-conducting secondary xylem in a tree.
Sclereid
a very hard sclerenchyma cell found in nutshells and seed coats.
Schlerenchyma Cell
a supportive cell with rigid secondary walls hardened with lignin.
Secondary Growth
An increase in a plant’s diameter, involving cell division in the vascular cambium and cork cambium.
Secondary Phloem
A type of phloem plant tissue produced by the vascular cambium during secondary growth.
Secondary Xylem
A type of xylem plant tissue produced by the vascular cambium during secondary growth.
Shoot System
All of a plant’s stems, leaves, and reproductive structures.
Sieve Plate
An end wall in a sieve-tube element that facilitates the flow of phloem sap.
Sieve-tube Elements
A food-conducting cell in a plant; also called a sieve-tube member. Chains of sieve-tube elements make up phloem tissue.
Simple Leaf
consists of a single lamina and is not divided into smaller leaflets
Spring wood
The wood that is produced by a plant in the spring and early summer and consists of large thin-walled xylem cells
Stolon
a stem that grows along the ground surface.
Stem
The part of a plant’s shoot system that supports the leaves and reproductive structures.
Suberin
a cell wall-associated biopolymer found in specific cell types, such as root epidermis, root endodermis
Tendril
A modified leaf used by some plants to climb around a fixed structure.
Terminal Bud
Embryonic tissue at the tip of a shoot, made up of developing leaves and a compact series of nodes and internodes.
Tissue
An integrated group of cells with a common function, structure, or both.
Tissue System
The epidermis, ground tissue, and vascular tissue are the three major tissue systems
Tracheid
A tapered, porous, water-conducting, and supportive cell in plants; make up the water-conducting, supportive tubes in xylem.
Tuber
An enlargement at the end of a rhizome in which food is stored.
Vascular Bundle
A strand of vascular tissues (both xylem and phloem) in a plant stem.
Vascular Cambium
During secondary growth of a plant, the cylinder of meristematic cells, surrounding the xylem and pith, that produces secondary xylem and phloem.
Vascular Cylinder
The central cylinder of vascular tissue in a plant root.
Vein
a vascular bundle in a leaf, composed of xylem and phloem.
Vessel Element
A short, open-ended, water-conducting, and supportive cell in plants. Chains of vessel elements or tracheids make up the water-conducting, supportive tubes in xylem.
Wood
Secondary xylem of a plant.
Wood Ray
A column of parenchyma cells that radiates from the center of a log and transports water to its outer living tissues.
