2.

3 Support in
Plants
 Like humans and animals , plants need support .

As a plant grows , it produces more leaves .

It needs a strong stem and branches to support

its weight .

If a plant is to grow tall , it needs to withstand

the forces of gravity .

A plant also faces the problem of gravity

pull when it spreads its leaves and branches
horizontally to absorb maximum sunlight .
Aquatic plants have less support-related problems
because water provides buoyancy and support , and the
effects of gravity are minimal .

Consequently , aquatic plants have less need for

adaptations for support compared to
terrestrial plants .
 SUPPORT IN PLANTS

Aquatic plants Terrestrial plants

Submerged plants Floating plants Herbaceous plants Woody plants

Support in aquatic plants

Submerged plants
Submerged plants like Hydrilla sp. have very thin , narrow
and flexible leaves .
This type of leaves provide little resistance to water flow .
This means the plant can be tugged at and pulled by water
currents without being damaged .
There are air sacs or air spaces inside the leaves and stems
which keep the plant floating close to the
surface to obtain maximum sunlight .
Since water buoyancy provides support
for these plants , their stems have
no woody tissue . For this reason ,
if plants are removed
from water , they become
limp and floppy .

Hydrilla sp.
Support in aquatic plants

Floating plants
Floating plants like water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) have
broad leaves that are firm but flexible enough to
resist tearing by wave action .

These plants have aerenchyma tissues in the stems and leaves .

These are spongy tissues with large air spaces between the cells
. They provide buoyancy so that the plants can float on the
surface of the water .

These plants do not need much strengthening

tissue in their stems and leaves
compared to terrestrial plant .

Water hyacinth
Support in terrestrial plants

Herbaceous plants
Support in terrestrial plants such as herbaceous
plants is provided by the turgidity of the parenchyma
and collenchymas cells.

The turgor pressure of the fluid content in the central

vacuole pushes the cell membrance and the cell
contents against the cell wall , creating support the
stem , root and leaves .

The thickening of the cell walls with cellulose and

pectin in collenchymas cells provide additional
mechanical strength for herbaceous plants .

herbaceous plants
Support in terrestrial plants

Woody plants
Support in woody plants provided by sclerenchyma
and xylem tissues .
Sclerenchyma tissue is composed of cells with
secondary cell walls that are usually lignified .
It supports non-growing parts of plants becauses the
cells have thick , rigid , non-stretchable cell walls .
There are two types of sclerenchyma tissues :
fibres and sclereids .
Fibres are long , straight and
thin while sclereids are short ,
circular and irregular shaped .

Fibres are found around

vescular tissue while
sclereids are found mainly in

the fruit and seeds .

During development , the cell walls of xylem vessels and
tracheids are thickened with lignin . This results in the
formation of different types of vessels . There are
annular or ring-shaped vessels , spiral vessels ,
scalariform orladder-like vessels and pirred vessels .

tracheids xylem vessel

The formation of these types of vessels is called
primary xylem .

As a plant grows , it usually undergoes secondary

growth which results in the formation of a large
amount of secondary xylem called wood .

The wood makes the plant stronger and provides

support to it .
In some plants , in addition to the different
tissues which provide internal support .
For example , some tropical trees have
buttress roots .
These are roots that come out from the lower
part of the trunk and grow into ground ,
providing support for the tree .
Creepers , vines , and lianas (woody vines) use
other trees for support .
Rattan is a type of liana .
Lianas have a
variety of adaptations such as stem twining the
thorns for attaching themselves to their hosts .

Creepers
vines
lianas
By group
members :
Michelle Chin
Wong Yih Wen
Tan Wenfei
Nor Farhana
THE Myra
Fatin END.