This document summarizes various types of specialized plant structures including stems, leaves, and roots. Some examples of specialized stems are bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, and corms which are all modified underground stems that store food. Specialized leaves include spines, bracts, insect-trapping leaves, and storage leaves. Specialized roots consist of food storage roots, pneumatophores, aerial roots, contractile roots, parasitic roots, and buttress roots - each modified for a specific purpose such as food storage, gas exchange, or structural support.
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This document summarizes various types of specialized plant structures including stems, leaves, and roots. Some examples of specialized stems are bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, and corms which are all modified underground stems that store food. Specialized leaves include spines, bracts, insect-trapping leaves, and storage leaves. Specialized roots consist of food storage roots, pneumatophores, aerial roots, contractile roots, parasitic roots, and buttress roots - each modified for a specific purpose such as food storage, gas exchange, or structural support.
Original Description:
Just a few examples of specialized roots, stems, leaves.
This document summarizes various types of specialized plant structures including stems, leaves, and roots. Some examples of specialized stems are bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, and corms which are all modified underground stems that store food. Specialized leaves include spines, bracts, insect-trapping leaves, and storage leaves. Specialized roots consist of food storage roots, pneumatophores, aerial roots, contractile roots, parasitic roots, and buttress roots - each modified for a specific purpose such as food storage, gas exchange, or structural support.
This document summarizes various types of specialized plant structures including stems, leaves, and roots. Some examples of specialized stems are bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, and corms which are all modified underground stems that store food. Specialized leaves include spines, bracts, insect-trapping leaves, and storage leaves. Specialized roots consist of food storage roots, pneumatophores, aerial roots, contractile roots, parasitic roots, and buttress roots - each modified for a specific purpose such as food storage, gas exchange, or structural support.
- underground buds with the stem reduced to a small knob on which fleshy storage leaves are clustered
b. Tubers (e.g. white potatoes) - fleshy underground stems modified to store starch
c. Rhizomes (e.g. fresh ginger root) - are horizontal underground stems with nodes, internodes, dry scale leaves, and adventitious roots
d. Corms (e.g. crocus) - are upright underground fleshy stems covered by leaves reduced to dry, covering scales
e. Thorns (e.g. honey and locust) - are woody, sharply pointed branch stems
f. Prickles (e.g. rose and raspberry) - are small pointed outgrowths from the epidermis or cortex of the stem
g. Cladophylls (e.g. butcher'sbroom) - are flattened main stems that resemble leaves
h. Stipules (e.g. black locust) - are paired scales, glands, or leaflike structures at the base of the petiole formed from leaf or stem tissue
i. Stolons/Runners (e.g. strawberry plants) - are thin, aboveground, horizontal stems of indeterminate growth and long internodes that grow out from a parent plant and produce young plants at their tips
j. Tendril (e.g. grapes) - plant structure whose function is to help the plant climb
Specialized Leaves
a. Spines (e.g. cactus) - are small, unbranched, sharp outgrowths of leaf tissue in which the parenchyma is replaced by sclerenchyma
b. Bracts (e.g. red petals of poinsettia) - are modified leaves at the base of flowers or flower stalks
c. Insect-Trapping Leaves (e.g. Venus fly trap) - trap insects usually occur in swampy areas and bogs of tropical and temperate regions
d. Reproductive Leaves (e.g. fern) - produce new plants at their tips
e. Window Leaves (e.g. Swiss cheese plant) - Have leaves shaped like ice cream cones. The transparent surface is covered with a thick epidermis and cuticle and has virtually no stomata. This arrangement allows light nearly direct access to the mesophyll with chloroplasts inside
f. Flower Pot Leaves (e.g. Dischidia) - develop odd pouches that become the symbiotic homes of ant colonies
g. Storage/Succulent leaves (e.g. Cheiridopsis) - are leaves modified to retain and store water
Specialized Roots
a. Food Storage Roots (e.g. Carrots) - enlarged to store starch and other carbohydrates
b. Pneumatophores (e.g. Mangrove) - Extend above the surface of water for plants that grow in swampy areas and also helps roots exchange gases
c. Aerial Roots (e.g. Poison Ivy) - Roots that occur above the surface of the soil
d. Contractile Roots (e.g. Lily) - Help to pull the plant deeper into the soil
e. Parasitic Roots (e.g. Pinedrops) - Peg-like projections penetrate hosts stem, usually does not contain chlorophyll
f. Buttress Roots (e.g. Tropical Roots) - Huge roots near base of trunk, usually in trees that grow in shallow soil