STEMS: FORM & FUNCTION

• Function
• External Anatomy
• Internal Anatomy
• Specialized Stems
 The Plant Body: Stems
FUNCTION OF STEMS
• Stems support leaves and branches.
• Stems transport water and solutes
between roots and leaves.
• Stems in some plants are
photosynthetic.
• Stems may store materials
necessary for life (e.g., water,
starch, sugar).
• In some plants, stems have become
adapted for specialized functions.
 Stems support a
display of leaves.

Stems orient the

leaves toward the
light with minimal
overlap among the
leaves.

Asclepias - milkweed
stem supports a display of flowers
Cercis canadensis - redb
e stem does photosynthesis…
and stores water.
Opuntia-prickly pe
 This stem does
photosynthesis,
stores water, but
also produces a
defense chemical:
mescaline…a
hallucinogen.

Lophophora williamsii - pe
EXTERNAL ANATOMY
EXTERNAL ANATOMY
STEM APICAL MERISTEM
Apical Dominance
 Apical dominance refers to the
suppression of growth by hormones
produced in the apical meristem.  The
Christmas tree pattern of pines
indicates strong apical dominance. 
Bushy plants have weak apical
dominance.  If apical meristem is
eaten or destroyed, plants may
become bushy.
 Lateral branch growth are inhibited
near the shoot apex, but less so
farther from the tip.
 Apical dominance is disrupted in
some plants by removing the shoot
tip, causing the plant to become
bushy.
PRIMARY & SECONDARY GROWTH
 Monocotyledonous &
Dicotyledonous Flowering Plants
Monocot Stem – cross section
INTERNAL STEM ANATOMY
cal Stem Cross Section (Dicot Stem)
Helianthus annuus-
sun flower annua
Epidermis

Cortex

A ring of vascular bundles

Pith
Epidermis
- window, reduce
Cortex Collenchyma
water loss
- extensible support
Cortex Parenchyma
- photosynthesis,
etc.
Fibers- rigid support
Functional Phloem
- conduct sugars etc.
away from leaf to
Vascular rest
Cambium
of plant
- adds 2° xylem and
Xylem 2° phloem
-conduct water and
minerals
Pith up from soil
-water storage,
defense?
tem: Provide both name and function labels:
Epidermis: reduce evaporation, gas exchang
Cortex: photosynthesis, collenchyma suppor
Vascular Bundles: conduction
Pith: water storage? defense? disintegra

Vascular Bundle:
outsi
de Phloem Fibers: support
Functional
center

Phloem:
outsi

Vascular
conduct CHCambium:
2O away from
de

leaf
add 2° Xylem and 2°
to

Phloem
Xylem:
conduct minerals up
to from soil
Vitis vinifera - gr
 Notice how the
vascular cambia of
adjacent vascular
bundles line up side
by side.
Notice that cambium
tissue differentiates
between the bundles,
connecting the cambia
together.
Remnants of the
procambium:
Intrafasicular
cambium
Interfasicular
Vitiscambium
vinifera - grape
 If you have ever been to Washington DC you will
see how the early architects and artists for
governmental buildings were impressed with
Greco-Roman architecture and symbols.
 On each side of the seat occupied by the
presiding officer of the Senate are two Fasces.
The Romans had many symbols of Power.
 One of them was a bundle of sticks lashed together
in a cylinder with a long axe in the center. This is a
Fasces! Early Botanists noted that the vascular
tissue in stems appeared in discrete bundles which
they called Fascicles!!!
 Fasces => Fascicles (bundle). 
 An area of Ground Tissue between the Fascicles was
called Interfascicular! Remnants of the procambium
between the primary phloem and xylem was called
Intrafascicular.
 Information obtained from:
http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/library/webb/BOT311/PrimSec/pri
marysecondary4.htm
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
 Fasces
• Fasces (from the Latin word
fascis, meaning bundle)
symbolise summary power and
jurisdiction, and/or "strength
through unity.“
• The traditional Roman fasces
consisted of a bundle of birch
rods tied together with a red
ribbon as a cylinder around an
axe.
• One interpretation of the
symbolism suggests that
despite the fragility of each
independent single rod, as a
bundle they exhibit strength.
• See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces
vascular cambium makes 2° tissues:
Vitis vinifera - gr

2°
2° phl
xy oem
le
m
Basswood – 1 & 2 years old
Three years of Secondary
Growth Tilia - basswoo

ium Secondary
cam b
Phloem

Secondary
Xylem
cambium differentiates and produces a periderm.
Epidermis
cutin

suberin

Cork Cells

Cork Cambium
Phelloderm
Over time, the
epidermis dies.
The cork cells build
up to for a thick
layer for the bark
of a tree. We use
this to make
stoppers for wine
bottles and so on.
When suberin is
fully developed,
the cortex cells
will eventually be
in the dark. So
these chloroplasts
will lose their
function!
Bark =
epidermis
+ periderm
+ cortex +
phloem +
vascular
cambium

Wood =
secondary
xylem
only!
Pith =
a small
percentage
of tree
diameter
Anatomy of a Woody Stem
The trees pictured below have long lost their
epidermis on the woody portion of the stem

Sequoia sempervirens - giant sequoia

udy of the growth rings in wood: Dendrochronology
 Each year the cambium
produces a layer of
secondary xylem and a
layer of secondary
phloem.
This photo shows
secondary xylem from
parts of three years
in Pinus strobus
(white pine).

spring of the next year

winter of that year
fall of that year

mid-summer of one year

This tree is Pinus
aristata (bristlecone
pine).
One individual of
this species shows
more than 5000 growth
rings!
Inner wood, harvested
by boring, was used
to validate carbon-14
dating.
Imagine the stories
that this California
tree could tell…
perhaps something of
migration of Asian
peoples down the
western coast of
Modified & Specialized Stems
 Food Storage Stems
Prickly Pear
Cactus

Bamboo Shoots Kohlrabi

Food Storage Stems - Sugarcane
Food Storage Stems - Asparagus
 Rhizomes
• Rhizomes - horizontal
stems that grow
below the ground with
adventitious roots
• Examples of plants
that can produce
rhizomes are irises,
ferns, and grasses.
 Stolons
• Stolons or runners -
horizontal stem that
grows above the
ground with long
internodes
• Examples of plants
that can produce
stolons are strawberry
and airplane plants
 Tuber
• Tubers -
accumulation of food
at the tips of
underground stolons
• The "eyes" of a potato
are the nodes of a
starch-ladened stem
History of the Potato
Potato first domesticated in
region of modern day Bolivia
and Peru

Failure of the potato crop

in 1845-49 led to the Irish
Potato Famine
Taters and Spuds
 Rosette
• Rosette - stem with short internodes and leaves
attached at nodes
Wild Radish – Rosette & Bolt
A FLOWERING ANNUAL

YEAR ONE YEAR ONE

Common Mullen – Rosette & Bolt
A FLOWERING BIENNIAL

YEAR ONE

YEAR TWO
 Bulb
• Bulbs - large buds
with a small stem at
the lower end
surrounded by
numerous fleshy
leaves, adventitious
roots at base
• Examples include
onion, tulip, and lily
 Corm
• Corms - resemble
bulbs but composed
entirely of stem tissue
surrounded by a few
papery scale like
leaves, food storage
organs with
adventitious roots at
the base of corms
• Examples include
crocus and gladiolus.
 Cladophylls
•Cladophylls - leaf-
like stems; examples
include butcher's
broom, asparagus
 Photosynthetic Stems
• Cacti - stout fleshy
stems that are
modified for food and
water storage and
photosynthesis.
 Thorns
• Honey locust
(modified stem)
• Black Locust (modified
leaf stipules)
 Tendrils

Grape Tendrils
Sugar Loading of Phloem and Bulk Flow
Sugar Loading of Phloem and Bulk Flow
Transpiration-Cohesion Hypothesis
for Water Movement