ORGANIZATION OF

LIVING SYSTEMS
Instructor: Djamae L. Manzanares, MSc
Plant Organ
Organ systems in Plants:

1. Shoot system
- above ground
- includes leaves, buds, stem, flower and
fruits

2. Root system
- below ground
- includes roots
Monocotyledonae vs Dicotyledonae
Examples:
1. Grasses
2. Lilies
3. Orchids
4. Palms

Examples:
1. Oaks
2. Beans
3. Spinach
4. Rose
 Apical
Meristematic Intercalary
(Undifferentiated)
Lateral
Parenchyma
PLANT
TISSUES Simple Ground Collenchyma

Sclerenchyma
Non-meristematic
(Differentiated) Epidermis
Cork
Dermal
Periderm Cork Cambium
Complex Phelloderm

Xylem Tracheids
Vessels
Vascular
Sieve Tubes
Phloem
Companion Cells
 Meristematic or Embryonic
• composed of embryonic cells capable of cell division

• localized region for active cell division are the meristems

 Types of Meristems:
• Apical meristem

• occur at the tips of roots and shoots

• responsible in length of the plant (primary growth)
• contain initials that form primary meristems that produce root
and stem tissues
Primary Meristems

• Protoderm
• forms the epidermis

• Procambium
• forms phloem and xylem

• Ground Meristem
• forms parenchyma, collenchyma &
sclerenchyma
 Types of Meristems:
• Intercalary meristem

• occurs between mature tissues (in the

vicinity of the nodes)
• enables the leaf blade to increase in
length from the leaf base
• helps regenerate parts removed by
grazing herbivores
• common in grasses
 Types of Meristems:
• Lateral meristem

• occur in the periphery of the roots and stems

• responsible for lateral growth (secondary growth)/gives increase
in girth
• lateral meristems are called cambia (sing., cambium)
• vascular cambium: cylinder of cells that forms new phloem and
xylem
• cork cambium: cylinder of cells located beneath the bark (woody
plants)
 Types of Meristems:
• Lateral meristem

vascular cambium: lies between the wood and the inner bark
cork cambium: lies closer to the surface, and produces the outer bark
 Cork Cambium
• also known as, bark cambium, pericambium and phellogen

• responsible for secondary growth that replaces the epidermis in roots &
stems

• foundin woody and many herbaceous dicots, gymnosperms and

some monocots
 PermanentTissues

• composed of mature, differentiated cells

• derived from the meristematic tissues but their cells have lost the ability
of division and have attained their different forms
 Types of Permanent Tissue:
• Dermal tissue
• outermost layer of the primary plant body covering leaves, floral
parts, fruits, seeds, stems and roots
 Primary Dermal Tissue: Epidermis
• generally only one layer thick

• composed of mostly unspecialized cells, either parenchyma and/or

sclerenchyma
• guard cells which form stomata, pores for gas exchange, are present on
one or both surface
 Functions of Epidermis
• acts as a buffer between the environment and the internal plant tissues

• absorption of water and minerals primarily in the root region

• on the stem and leaves generally covered with a cutin which prevents
evaporation
• can form a barrier resistant to bacteria and fungi

• can prevent leaching of materials in or out of the surface

 Secondary Dermal Tissue: Periderm
• constitutes the outer bark

• secondary epidermis, produced by the cork cambium

• provides protection while permitting gas exchange

 Three Different Layers of Periderm:
1. Phellem (cork)
– non-living suberized cells
– produced by phellogen (cork
cambium) to outside of stem
2. Phellogen (cork cambium)
– produces cork to the outside
– produces phelloderm to the inside
3. Phelloderm
– composed of living parenchyma cells
– produced toward the inside of the
stem by the cork cambium (phellogen)
 Types of Permanent Tissue:
• Ground tissue
• non-meristematic tissue and occurs throughout the plant
• functions include storage, metabolism and support
• three types are the following:
 Types of Ground Tissue:Parenchyma
• most abundant cells in plants
• usually have thin primary walls and no
secondary walls
• spherical and flat cells
• alive at maturity
• have large vacuoles for storage of starch,
fats, and tannins
• metabolic function include photosynthesis,
respiration, and protein synthesis
 Types of Parenchyma
• Aerenchyma
• refers to spaces
or air channels in the leaves,
stems and roots of some plants, which allows
exchange of gases between the shoot and
the root

• Chlorenchyma
• contain chloroplasts and forming the basic
green tissue of plant leaves and stems
 Types of Ground Tissue:Collenchyma
• structurally
similar to parenchymal cells
except that their walls are irregularly
thickened
• functionsas an important supporting tissue
in young plants, in the stem of non-woody
older plants and leaves
• lacks secondary walls (lignin is absent)thus,
provides flexible support without
restraining growth
Cucurbita stem
cross-section (10x)
 Types of Ground Tissue:Sclerenchyma
• most are dead at maturity

• cells have uniformly thick, heavily

lignified secondary walls that contains
lignin, a component of wood thus,
more rigid than collenchyma
• functions in support
 Types of Sclerenchyma
• Sclereids
• relatively short; have variable shapes
• occur singly or in small groups
• form hard layers such as the
shells of nuts and seed coats
• produce the gritty texture of pears

• Fibers
• long, slender; occur in strands or
bundles
• used to make coarse rope, linen or
cloth
 Types of Permanent Tissue:
• Vascular tissue
• complex mixture of parenchyma, sclerenchyma, fiber cells, all non-
transporting cells and those cells involved in transport
 Types of VascularTissue
• Xylem (conducting sclerenchyma)
• chiefconducting tissue throughout all organs for water and minerals
absorbed by the roots
• can act as food storage
• consists of a combination of parenchyma cells, fibers, vessels,
tracheids and ray cells

• Phloem
• conducts
dissolved food materials produced by photosynthesis
throughout the plant
 Conducting Elements of Xylem:
• Vessels
• long tubes composed of individual cells
(vessel elements) that have thick
secondary cell walls & are open at each
end
• chiefly for conduction

• Tracheids
• elongated and tapering cells
• dead at maturity
• serve for strength and conduction
 Conducting Elements of Phloem:
• Sieve elements
• relatively large, more or less cylindrical
• specialized cells that are important for
the
function of phloem in transporting organic
compounds made during photosynthesis

• Companion cells
• narrower & more tapered
• found alongside each sieve-tube element
which is connected to it by plasmodesmata
• regulates activity of sieve tubes