Internal Structure

Internal Structure of
of aa
Root
Root
ROOTS
• the descending axis of a
plant, normally occurs below
ground
• sometimes roots can be above
the ground. This is called an
aerial root.

2
FUNCTIONS
Root systems serve three important function:
• they take up water and essential minerals
• they hold the plant securely in place
• they store food supplies

3
Types of Root Systems
 TAPROOT  FIBROUS ROOT
- a stout, tapering - arise from stem
main root from similar to lateral
which smaller roots
lateral roots arise - shallow
- deep - monocots
- gymnosperms
& dicots
5
Internal Structures of the Root

6
✢ Epidermis

7
 ✢ Root hair

Extensions of the
specialized root
epidermal cells
increasing surface are
for absorption of water
and mineral

8
✢ Cortex
✢ Region b/w the epidermis and vascular cylinder
✢ It can be divided into an exodermis, a central cortex and
endodermis
✢ The cell walls are thickened and contain suberin and lignin
✢ The central cortex usually consists of thin-walled
parenchyma cells with numerous intercellular space
✢ The endodermis forms the innermost layer of the cortex.
These cells are more rectangular in shape, the side walls
being thickened with suberin

9
 ✢ Serves to transport water and salts from the
root hairs to the center of the root
✢ The endodermis facilitates the movement of
water from cortex to xylem

✢ Allows for the diffusion of water, mineral

salts and oxygen from the root hairs
inwards
✢ Stores foods reserve, especially starch

10
✢ Pericycle

✢ Located between the endodermis and

phloem in plant roots
✢ Enables plants to grow roots (regulates
the formation of lateral roots)
✢ Facilitates plant development

11
✢ Xylem

✢ plant vascular tissue that conveys water and

dissolved minerals from the roots to the rest of the
plant

✢ Phloem
✢ also called bast
✢ tissues in plants that conduct foods made in the
leaves to all other parts of the plant. 

12
14
TREE RINGS

15
Tree Rings
- each of a number of concentric rings in
the cross section of a tree trunk,
representing a single year's growth

16
IMPORTANCE
Tree rings can be used to:
o estimate average annual
rainfall
o date archaeological ruins
o gather evidence of wildfires,
floods, landslides, and glacier
movements
o study the ecology and effects
of parasitic insect populations

17
18
Relationship of Leaf Structure to
its Functions
 Name of Structure Structure Function
Hormone molecule
which binds to
ABA Regulates closure of guard cells
guard membrane
 cell receptors
Green organelles 
Chloroplasts with stacked Photosynthesis
membranes
Cuticle Layer of suberin Limiting water loss
Single layer of thin,
Transmit light, limit water loss
Epidermis closely packed
and control gas exchange
cells
Spiral walls, bound Open and close to
Guard cells
at ends control gas exchange
Tall, many
Palisade mesophyll chloroplasts, Photosynthesis
precisely spaced
 Elongated cells, living but
without nucleus or ER,
Phloem connected end to end by Transport of sugars in sap
sieve plates and
plasmodesmata
Parenchyma with vacuoles
Pith Storage, support
and plastids
Openings between sieve
Plasmodesmata Transport of sap
tubes connecting cytoplasm
Rounded, widely spaced,
Spongy mesophyll Allow gas exchange
near stomata
Suberin Waxy molecule Waterproofing
Undifferentiated, rapidly
Vascular cambium dividing cells between the Growth in diameter
xylem and phloem
Elongated cells with Absorbing and
Xylem thickened, pitted walls, transporting water and
connected end to end ions
23
 In the desert
✢ Some plants, called succulents,
store water in their stems or
leaves;
✢ Cactus conduct photosynthesis
in their green stems.
✢ Long root systems spread out
wide or go deep into the
ground to absorb water

24
✢ Leaves with hair help shade the plant,
reducing water loss.
✢ Spines to discourage animals from
eating plants for water;
✢ Waxy coating on stems and leaves help
reduce water loss.
✢ Flowers that open at night lure
pollinators who are more likely to be
active during the cooler night.
✢ Slower growing requires less energy. 
The plants don't have to make as much
food and therefore do not lose as much
water. 
25
Temperate Grasslands
✢ During a fire, while above-
ground portions of grasses may
perish, the root portions survive
to sprout again
✢ Some prairie trees have thick
bark to resist fire
✢ Prairie shrubs readily resprout
after fire
✢ Roots of prairie grasses extend
deep into the ground to absorb as
much moisture as they can

26
✢ Extensive root systems
prevent grazing animals from
pulling roots out of the ground
✢ Prairie grasses have narrow
leaves which lose less water
than broad leaves
✢ Many grasses take advantage
of exposed, windy conditions
and are wind pollinated

27
 Tropical Rainforest
✢ drip tips and waxy surfaces allow
water to run off, to discourage
growth of bacteria and fungi
✢ buttresses and prop and stilt roots
help hold up plants in the shallow
soil
✢ some plants climb or grow on others
to reach the sunlight
✢ flowers on the forest floor are
designed to lure animal pollinators

28
✢ plants have shallow roots to help capture
nutrients from the top level of soil.
✢ many bromeliads are epiphytes (plants that
live on other plants); instead of collecting
water with roots they collect rainwater into
a central reservoir from which they absorb
the water through hairs on their leaves
✢ epiphytic orchids have aerial roots that
cling to the host plant, absorb minerals, and
absorb water from the atmosphere

29
Temperate Rainforest
✢ epiphytes such as mosses and ferns
grow atop other plants to reach light.
✢ cool temperatures lead to slow
decomposition but seedlings grow on
"nurse logs" to take advantage of the
nutrients from the decomposing fallen
logs.
✢ trees can grow very tall due to amount
of precipitation.

30
Temperate Deciduous Forest
✢ wildflowers grow on forest floor early
in the spring before trees leaf-out and
shade the forest floor
✢ many trees are deciduous (they drop
their leaves in the autumn, and grow
new ones in spring). 
✢ Most deciduous trees have thin, broad,
light-weight leaves that can capture a
lot of sunlight to make a lot of food for
the tree in warm weather
✢ trees have thick bark to protect against
cold winters
31
 Taiga
✢ many trees are evergreen so that plants can
photosynthesize right away when
temperatures rise
✢ many trees have needle-like leaves which
shape loses less water and sheds snow more
easily than broad leaves
✢ waxy coating on needles prevent
evaporation

32
✢ needles are dark
in color
allowing more
solar heat to be
absorbed

✢ many trees
have branches that droop downward to help shed excess snow to
keep the branches from breaking

33
Tundra
✢ Tundra plants are small and low-
growing due to lack of nutrients,
because being close to the ground
helps keep the plants from freezing,
and because the roots cannot
penetrate the permafrost.
✢ Plants are dark in color—some are
even red—this helps them absorb
solar heat.
✢ Some plants are covered with hair
which helps keep them warm.

34
✢ Some plants grow in clumps to
protect one another from the
wind and cold.
✢ Some plants have dish-like
flowers that follow the sun,
focusing more solar heat on the
center of the flower, helping the
plant stay warm

35
 In Water
✢ underwater leaves and stems are
flexible to move with water currents
✢ some plants have air spaces in their
stems to help hold the plant up in the
water
✢ submerged plants lack strong water
transport system (in stems); instead
water, nutrients, and dissolved gases
are absorbed through the leaves
directly from the water.

36
✢ some plants have leaves that float atop
the water, exposing themselves to the
sunlight
✢ in floating plants chlorophyll is
restricted to upper surface of leaves
(part that the sunlight will hit) and the
upper surface is waxy to repel water
✢ Some plants produce seeds that can
float

37
Stomata closing and
opening

38
Guard Cells
✢ cells surrounding each stoma
✢ They help to regulate the rate of
transpiration by opening and
closing the stomata.

Stomata
✢ Serve as entry and exit points of
gases in plants.
Notice that in this figure, the
guard cells are turgid, or
swollen, and the stomatal
opening is large. This turgidity
is caused by the accumulation of
K+ (potassium ions) in the guard
cells. As K+ levels increase in
the guard cells, the water
potential of the guard cells
drops, and water enters the
guard cells.

40
✢ In figure B, the guard cells
have lost water, which causes
the cells to become flaccid and
the stomatal opening to close.
This may occur when the plant
has lost an excessive amount of
water. In addition, it generally
occurs daily as light levels drop
and the use of CO2 in
photosynthesis decreases.

41
Specialized Leaves,
Stems, and Roots

42
 Specialized Leaves
1. Spines
- hard and pointed
- found on many desert plants such as
cacti
- spines discourage animals from eating
succulent stem tissue

*In the cactus, the main organ of

photosynthesis is the stem rather than the
leaf.

43
2. Tendrils
- Vines are climbing plants
whose stems cannot support
their own weight, so they
possess tendrils that keep help
the vine attached to the
structure on which it is
growing.
- Some tendrils are
classified as specialized
stems such as those of ivy,
Virginia creeper and grape.

44
3. Bud Scales
- protect the delicate
meristematic tissue of the
bud from injury, freezing,
or drying out.
4. Succulent Leaves
- Also called water storage
- special
- specialized to store water for
the plant
45
5. Food Storage Leaves of Bulbs

- specialized to store
food for the plant

- underground leaves in
bulbs

- do not make food for the

plant

46
6. Reproductive Leaves
- specialized to grow roots
to make a new plant

- produce adventitious plantlets,

which fall off the leaf and take root
in the soil

47
 7. Floral Bracts

- specialized to attract
pollinators such as insects.
- The floral bracts are colorful
like petals, as the actual
flowers are very small.
- Poinsettia, the Bougainvillea,
the banana, and Indian
paintbrush

48
8. Conifer Needles

- specialized to store water.

- needle-shaped and have a thick cuticle
to prevent water loss.
- contain resins to protect them from
freezing and to
prevent insects from eating them

49
 8. Insect-trapping
- specialized to trap insects
- Insect-trapping leaves may be
sticky to trap the insect, they
may form containers to trap the
insects, or they may snap shut
when the insect lands on the
leaves.
- The plant uses the nutrients,
such as nitrogen, from the
decaying insect to supplement
the low nutrient supply in its
environment.
50
 Specialized Stems
1. Bulb
A bulb is a short, underground,
food-storage stem axis with
extremely reduced internodes and
surrounding fleshy scale leaves

51
 2. Stolon
- a creeping horizontal
plant stem or runner that
takes root at points along
its length to form new
plants.

52
3. Corm
- a solid, bulb-like , underground stem
without fleshy scales forms a corm
- A short, vertical, swollen
underground plant stem that serves as
a storage organ that some plants use to
survive winter or other adverse
conditions such as summer drought
and heat 

53
 4. Tubers

- found near or below the soil

surface
- enlarged ends of rhizomes
specialized for storing food.

54
 5. Rhizome
- an underground stem that
produces scale-like leaves
and adventitious roots at the
nodes

55
Specialized Roots
1. Prop Roots
- modified roots that arise from
the stem of certain plants and
provide extra support
- Such stems are usually tall and
slender and the prop
roots develop at successively
higher levels as the stem
elongates

56
2. Storage Roots

In certain plants the roots, or

part of the root system, is
enlarged in order to store large
quantities of starch and other
carbohydrates.

57
3. Buttress Roots

- large roots on all sides of a

shallowly rooted tree.
- Typically, they are found in
nutrient-poor rainforest soils
and do not penetrate to deeper
layers.

58
4. Aerial roots

Aerial root is a type

of root wherein it grows from
the stem of the plant, i.e.
above the ground. This type
of root absorbs water directly
from the air.

59
5. Pneumatophores

- roots that help plants that

grow in very wet areas like
swamps get enough oxygen
- By projecting above the
surface, they enable the root
system to obtain oxygen

60
 💃

ROXANNE JINTALAN MANGA

61