Plant Structure, Growth, &

Development
 Organization of Plants
• Plants like most multicellular organisms
have organs made of tissues that are made
of different cell types
 3 Basic Plant Organs
1. Stems
2. Roots
3. Leaves
 Roots
• Organ that
1. anchors a vascular
plant in the soil
2. absorbs water &
minerals
3. stores carbohydrates
 Taproot System
• In most eudicots &
gymnosperms
• Taproot develops from
embryonic root
• Forms lateral roots (branch
roots)
• Penetrate deep
• Eudicot: most flowering plants
that have 2 embryonic seed leaves
• Gymnosperm: vascular plant that
bears naked seeds
 Roots in Monocots
• Grasses: no tap root
• Roots called adventitious: grows in unusual
locations
– Example: roots arising from stems or leaves
 Adventitious Root Systems
• Each small root forms its own lateral roots
 fibrous root system
 Root Hairs
• Emerge near tips of roots
• Increase surface area for absorption of
water and mineral ions (do not help anchor
plant)
• are thin, tubular extensions of a root
epidermal cell
 Root Adaptations
• Prop Roots: support • Pneumatophores: air
tall, top-heavy trees roots, portion above
water line allows them
to get O2
 Root Adaptations
• Buttress Roots: tallest • “Strangling” Aerial
trees in rain forest Roots: seeds of these
have shallow roots; trees (strangler fig)
buttress roots give germinate in branches
support to trunks of host tree
 Stems
• Plant organs that
1. raise or separate leaves  allowing them
to receive more sunlight
2. Raise reproductive structures 
facilitating dispersal of seeds or pollen
 Parts of a Stem
• Each stem has alternating system of:
1. Nodes
– Point at which leaves are attached
2. Internodes
– Stem segments between nodes
3. Axillary Bud
– Upper angle (axil) formed by each leaf & stem
– Structure that can form a lateral shoot (branch)
 Parts of a Stem
4.Apical Bud
–Part of shoot tip
–The terminal bud (where most of
growth occurs)
Parts of a Stem
 Adaptations of Stems
1. Rhizomes:
horizontal shoots
that grow just
below surface
;vertical shoots
emerge from
axillary buds
• Ex: Irises, Hops
Stem Adaptations
2.Bulbs: are vertical,
underground shoots
made mostly of
enlarged bases of
modified leaves that
store food
• Ex: onion, tulips
 Adaptations of Stems
3. Stolons: horizontal
shoots that grow along
surface; aka “runners”
• Enable plant to
reproduce asexually:
plantlets form at nodes
• Ex: strawberries, some
grasses
Adaptations of Stems
4. Tubers: enlarged ends
of rhizomes or stolons
specialized for storing
food. “Eye” of potato
is cluster of axillary
buds that mark the
nodes
Ex: potato, dahlias
 Leaves
• In most plants leaf is main photosynthetic
organ
• General Structure:
– Blade
– Petiole
• not on grasses or most monocots
– Veins
• Patterns differ monocots & eudicots
Structure of a Leaf
Types of Leaves
 Leaf Adaptations
• Tendrils: modified leaf
used to support plant
• Ex: pea plants

• Some plants have

tendrils that are
modified stems
(grapevines)
Leaf Adaptations
2. Spines: leaves adapted
for protection
In cacti, stems are main
photosynthetic organ
 Leaf Adaptations
3. Storage Leaves: most
succulents have leaves
adapted to store water
Ex. onion
Leaf Adaptations
4. Reproductive Leaves:
leaves of some
succulents produce
adventitious plantlets
which fall off & take
root in soil
Ex: some succulents
Hens and Chicks
 Leaf Adaptations
5. Bracts: modified
leaves surrounding the
real flower; function:
attract pollinators
The yellow portion of
poinsettia is the
flower; the red leaves
are bracts
 Tissue Systems
• Are functional units connecting all of the
plants organs
 Dermal Tissue System
• Plant’s outer protective
covering:
• Epidermis: a layer of tightly
packed cells (nonwoody
plants)
• Cuticle: waxy covering on
epidermal surface prevents
water loss
• Periderm: replaces in older
regions of stems & roots
(woody plants)
Vascular Tissue System
Carries out long-distance
transport of materials
between the root & shoot
systems
1. Xylem
– H2O& dissolved
materials roots  shoots
2. Phloem
– Sugars  roots & sites of
growth
 Ground Tissue System
• Tissue that isn’t dermal or
vascular tissue
• Pith: Internal to vascular
tissue
• Cortex: external to
vascular tissue
• Includes cells specialized
for functions such as
storage, photosynthesis,
support, and short-
distance transport
 Plant Cells
• Cell differentiation involving changes in:
– Cell walls
– Cytoplasm
– Organelles
 Parenchymal Cells
• Mature cells have thin, slightly flexible cell
walls (only 1)& large central vacuole
• Functions:
– Perform most of metabolic functions of plant
• Chloroplasts
• Plastids: store starch, found in roots
• Make up most of fleshy part of fruits
• Most able to divide & differentiate into other cell types
 Collenchyma Cells
• Come grouped in strands just below
epidermis
• Support young parts of plant shoot without
interfering with growth
• Elongated cells with thicker cell walls
(compared to parenchymal cells) which can
be irregularly thickened
 Sclerenchymal Cells
• Supportive role but more rigid than collenchymal
cells in regions of plant that have stopped
growing
• 2º cell walls thick, contain lignin (indigestible
strengthening polymer) in all vascular plants, not
in bryophytes
• Many dead at plant maturity: rigid cell walls
support plant
 Sclerenchymal Cells
• 2 types: (both for support & strength)
1. Sclereids
– Boxy, irregularly shaped cells
– Thick lignified 2º cell walls
– Hardness in nutshells/grittiness in pear
2. Fibers
– Grouped in strands
– Long, slender, tapered
– Hemp fibers for rope/flax fibers for linen
 Water-Conducting Cells of Xylem
• 2 types: both elongated, tubular cells/dead at plant
maturity: form tubular conduit for water flow;
have pits through which water can move laterally
1. Tracheids
– In nearly all vascular plants
2. Vessel Elements
– In some vascular/most angiosperms/few gymnosperms
 Sugar-Conducting Cells of the Phloem
• 4 types all alive at plant maturity
1. Sieve Cells: in seedless vascular plants & gymnosperms
2. Sieve Tubes: chains of cells/ enucleated, no ribosomes,
vacuole, or cytoskeleton  sugars can diffuse thru cell
more easily
3. Sieve Plates: pores for flow of sap fluid cell-to-cell
4. Companion Cells: nonconducting cells connected to
sieve tube cells by plasmodesmata/their ribosomes &
nucleus serve both cells
Growth in Plants
Stem Growth
Root Growth
Cross-Section of a Leaf
Anatomy of a Tree Trunk
• bark includes all tissues
external to the vascular
cambian (2º xylem,
wood, and phloem)
• Sapwood = “living
wood” has lighter color
than heart wood (center)
which is made of dead
cells
 Development of a Plant
• Definitions:
• Development: specific series of changes by
which cells form tissues, organs, &
organisms
• Growth: irreversible increase in size
 More Definitions
• Morphogenesis:cellular & tissue-based
processes by which an organism takes shape,
depends on cells responding to positional
information from neighboring cells
• Differentiation : process by which a cell or
group of cells become specialized in structure
& function
 Plant Cell Division
• Preprophase band made of microtubules
develops in late interphase  determines
where cell plate will form
 Asymmetrical Cell Division
• not all plant cells divided equally duting M
Phase of cell cycle
• When occurs: usually signals a key event in
development
• Example:
– Epidermal cell divides
• 1 large epidermal cell
• 1 small guard cell
 Cell Polarity
• The condition of having structural or chemical
differences at opposite ends of an organism
• Typical plant has axis with a shoot end & a
root end
– 1st division of fertilized plant ova  asymmetrical
which initiates polarization of plant body into
shoot & root
 Cell Elongation
• Cell division enhances possibility of plant
growth but it is cell elongation that is
responsible for plant growth
 Cell Elongation
• Controlled by microtubule orientation 
controls the orientation of cellulose
microfibrils in cell wall
 Cell Differentiation
• Arises from differential gene activation
• Enables cells w/in plant to assume different
functions
• Way any particular cell differentiates
depends on its position in developing plant
 Pattern Formation
• Is the development of specific structures in
specific locations
• 2 hypothesis to explain
1. Lineage-based mechanism
– Daughter cells have instructions from early cells in
plant development
2. Position-based mechanism
– Cell’s position in emerging organ determines what
kind of cell it will become
 Pattern Formation
• Position-based hypothesis
– By destroying cells during development have
shown that cell’s fate determined late in
development & depends mostly on signals from
neighboring cells

– Cell fate in animals mostly lineage-dependent

involving transcription factors
 Pattern Formation
• Hox genes
– Homeotic genes that code for transcription
factors
– Critical for proper # & placement of embryonic
structures (legs, antennae in Drosophila)
 Pattern Formation
• Knotted-1 homologous to Hox gene found
in maize
• Important in development of leaf
morphology
 Control of Cell Differentiation
• Depends on control of gene expression: which
genes are transcribed  protein
• But fate of a particular cell is determined by
its final position in the developing organ, not
by cell lineage
– If undifferentiated cell is misplaced  it will
differentiate into cell type appropriate to its
position
 Activation of Genes
• Depends on signals from neighboring cells
 Phase Changes
• Cues from plant itself or from its
environment cause plant to switch from 1
developmental stage to another: called
Phase Changes
• Most obvious changes in leaf shape & size
 Genetic Control of Flowering
• Flower formation involves phase change from
vegetative growth  reproductive growth
• transition triggered by:
1. Environmental cues
– Length of daylight
2. Internal signals
– Plant hormones
 Genetic Control of Flowering
• Production of a flower by a shoot apical
meristem stops the primary growth of the
shoot
• Is ass’c with the switching on of floral
meristem identity genes

• Meristem: plant tissue that remains embryonic as long as plant

live, allowing for indeterminate growth
 Meristem Identity Genes
• Code for transcription factors that regulate
genes needed for conversion of the
indeterminate vegetative meristems 
determinate floral meristems
 Organ Identity Genes
• A plant homeotic gene that uses positional
information to determine which emerging
leaves develop into which type of floral
organs
 Organ Identity Genes
• Provide model system for studying pattern
formation:
– The development of a multicellular organism’s
spatial organization: arrangement of organs &
tissues in their characteristic places in 3-D
 Organ Identity Genes
• 3 classes identified by studying mutants
with abnormal flowers
• ABC Hypothesis
• A model of flower formation identifying 3
classes of organ identity genes that direct
formation of the 4 types of floral organs