NR 215

PLANT BIOLOGY
Lecture 5:
Stems
 Quiz Results
 Min: 3/15 (20%)
 Max: 14/15 (93%)
 Average: 7.8/15 (52%)
 Number of Students <50%: 25

 By the mid-term there will be more than 200 terms:

 You cannot learn them by sitting in class alone
 After 24 hours, up to 80% of what you absorbed in class is forgotten
 You have to put in hours outside of class (e.g. read and make study
notes on the textbook)

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Outline
 External Form of a Woody Twig
 Stem Origin and Development
 Stem Tissue Patterns
 Herbaceous Dicotyledonous Stems
 Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Monocotyledonous Stems
 Specialized Stems
 Wood and Its Uses
External Form of A Woody Twig
 Arrangement of Leaves to Twig
1. Alternate = One leaf (e.g. oak,
poplar, birch)
2. Opposite = Two leaves (e.g.
maple, ash, dogwood)
3. Whorled = Three or more leaves
(e.g. yellow loosestrife, bedstraw)
External Form of A Woody Twig
 Leaves attached at a node
 Stem region between nodes is an
internode
 Leaf has a flattened blade and is usually
attached to the twig by a petiole
 Axils (angle between a petiole and the
stem)
 Buds:
1. Axillary (found in axils)
 Embryonic shoot which lies at the junction
of the stem and petiole of a plant
2.  Terminal (found at tips of twigs)
 Scar Tissue on Twigs
1. Bud scale scars
 Scales of terminal bud
(can use for aging)
2. Leaf scars
 Deciduous trees and shrubs
have dormant axillary buds
with leaf scars left after
leaves fall
3. Bundle scars
 Mark the location of the
vascular bundles
4. Stipule scars
 Paired appendages at the
base of the leaf petiole
leave scars when they fall
off
 Origin and Development of Stems
 Apical meristem is dormant before
the beginning of the growing season
 Protected by bud scales and leaf
primordia (tiny, embryonic leaves)
 Apical meristem cells undergo
mitosis and three primary meristems
develop:
1. Protoderm (future epidermis)
2. Procambium (future 1o xylem and 1o
phloem
3. Ground Meristem (future pith &
cortex)
 Pith = center of the stem (consists
of parenchyma)
 Cortex = tissue between epidermis
and vascular tissue
Meristems Overview
Origin and Development of Stems
 Narrow band of cells between the primary xylem
and primary phloem may become vascular
cambium and produce secondary tissues
 Increases girth of the stem
 Cells produced by the vascular cambium become
components of:
1. Secondary xylem
 Tracheids, vessel elements, fibers
2. Secondary phloem
 Sieve tube members, companion cells
Origin and Development of Stems
Origin and Development of Stems
 Cortex can produce a
lateral meristem
(cork cambium)
 Cork
 Outer bark of woody
plants
 Reduces water loss
and provides
protection to the
stem
 Lenticels
 Fissuresin bark that
allow gas exchange
Tissue Patterns in Stems
 Monocotyledons (Monocots) - Flowering plants
that develop from seeds with a single seed leaf
(grasses, grain crops, lilies)
 Dicotyledons (Dicots) - Flowering plants that
develop from seeds having two seed leaves
Herbaceous Dicotyledonous Stems
 In general, annuals (plants which complete their
life cycles in one growing season)are green,
herbaceous plants
 Most monocots are annuals, but many dicots are also
annuals
 Herbaceous dicots have discrete vascular bundles
composed of patches of xylem and phloem
 Procambium produces primary xylem and phloem
 Vascular cambium arises later and adds secondary
phloem and xylem to the vascular bundles
Herbaceous Dicotyledonous Stems
 Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Vascular cambium of a typical broadleaf tree produces relatively large
vessel elements of secondary xylem (spring wood)
 Xylem produced next has smaller or fewer elements, and is referred to as summer
wood
 One year’s growth of xylem is called an annual ring
 Tree age (dendrochronology) and climate/growth conditions can be determined
 Softwood - Xylem consists primarily of tracheids

Spring Wood

Summer Wood
 Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Animation:
 Xylem, Phloem
McGraw-Hill
Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Vascular rays consist of parenchyma cells that
function in lateral conductions of nutrients (pholem
ray) and water (xylem ray) and radiate across
annual rings from vascular tissue to the cortex
Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Tyloses = Outgrowths of
parenchyma cells that protrude
into adjacent vessels or tracheids
of the xylem
 Prevent further conduction of water
and dissolved minerals (resins,
gums, and pigments accumulate)
 Older, darker wood at the center is
called heartwood (gives strength
and support), while the lighter,
still-functioning xylem closest to
the cambium is called sapwood
Woody Dicotyledonous Stems
 Bark =
Refers to all
the tissues
outside the
cambium,
including the
phloem
 Inner bark =
Phloem
 Outer bark
= Periderm
Monocotyledonous Stems
 The stems of most monocots have neither a
vascular cambium nor a cork cambium and thus
produce no secondary vascular tissues or cork
 Xylem and phloem exist in discrete vascular bundles
 Like dicots, xylem is always closest to center of the stem
 Xylem typically has two larger vessel elements and several
smaller ones
 Phloem is surrounded by thick walled sclerenchyma cells
(bundle sheath cells)
 Epidermis is usually lined with a band of sclerenchyma
cells and thicker walled parenchyma cells to give
support to the stem
Monocot vs. Dicot Stem Review
Growth Review
 See:
http://www.wadsworthmedia.com/biology/0495119
814_starr/big_picture/ch25_bp.swf
Specialized Stems
 Rhizomes
 Horizontal stems that
grow below-ground
(resemble roots, but
have scale-like leaves
and buds) (e.g. mint)
 Runners
 Horizontal stems that
generally grow along
surface (e.g.
strawberry)
Specialized Stems
 Stolons
 Appear similar to runners, but are produced
beneath the surface of the ground and tend to
grow in different directions
 E.g. potato tubers (swollen from the
accumulation of food) grow at the tip of stolons
 Bulbs
 Large buds surrounded by numerous fleshy
leaves, with a small stem at the lower end (e.g.
onions, lilies, tulips)
 Corms
 Resemble bulbs, but composed almost entirely
of stem tissue (e.g. gladiolus)
Specialized Stems
 Cladophylls
 Flattened, leaf-life stems
(e.g. asparagus, cacti)
functioning in storage
and photosynthesis
 Thorns
 Protection
 Tendrils
 Climbing plants (e.g.
grape, various gourd
species)
Wood and its Uses
 In a living tree, 50% of the
wood weight comes from
water content
 Dry weight is composed of
60-75% cellulose and 15-
25% lignin
 Density and Durability are
two of the most important
characteristics in
commercial wood
 Wood: Density
 Density
 Weight per unit volume
 Weight is compared to an
equal volume of water
(specific gravity)
 If weight of a given volume
of wood is the same as water,
specific gravity = 1.0
 <0.5 = light, >0.7 = heavy
 Balsa = 0.12
 Lignum vitae = 1.25 (used in
bearings, pulleys)
Wood: Durability
 Durability
 Ability to withstand
decay (e.g. cedar)
 Hardness
 Janka scale
 The amount of force (in
pounds per square inch)
required to insert a .
444"-diameter steel ball
into a species of wood
so that half of the pellet
is buried in the wood
 Wood and its
Uses: Sawing
 Sawing
 Quartersawed
boards show the
annual rings in a
side view
 Tangentially cut
(plain or flat
sawed) boards
show annual rings
as irregular bands
of light and dark
streaks
Wood and its Uses
 Wood Products
 About half of US and Canadian
wood production is used as lumber,
primarily for construction
 Veneer = Thin sheet of desirable wood
glued to cheaper lumber
 Second most extensive use of wood
is pulp (paper, synthetic fibers)
 In developing countries,
approximately half of cut timber is
used for fuel
 Less than 10% in US and Canada
Wood and its Uses
 Different products require different kinds of trees, but in
general, a cord of wood (a stack of wood 4' x 4' x 8') can
produce any of the following:
 7,500,000 toothpicks
 1,000 - 2,000 pounds of paper (depending on the process)
 87,870 sheets of bond stationery (81/2 by 11)
 942 one pound books
 61,370 standard #10 business envelopes
 4,384,000 commemorative-size postage stamps
 460,000 personal checks
 2,700 copies of the average daily paper (36 pages)
 12 dining room tables (each table seats 8)
Wood and its Uses
 Specific species for specific
uses:
 Oak = barrels
 Quarter-sawn white oak = Arts
& Crafts furniture (simplicity
of form)
 Red Spruce = violins, etc.
 White Ash = baseball bats
 Hard maple = flooring, etc.
 Cherry, Walnut = furniture
Wood and Its
Uses
 Greene &
Green Gamble
House
restoration
~$3.5 million
 Sam Maloof
Rocker +
$15,000
 Terms
 Alternate, opposite and whorled leaf  Vascular bundles
arrangement  Spring wood
 Node  Summer wood
 Internode  Dendrochronology
 Petiole  Vascular rays
 Axil  Tyloses
 Axillary buds  Heartwood
 Terminal buds  Sapwood
 Bud scale scars
 Inner bark
 Leaf scars
 Outer bark
 Bundle scars
 Xylem
 Stipule scars
 Phloem
 Lenticles
 Corms
 Rhizomes
 Cladophylls
 Runners
 Thorns
 Stolons
 Tendrils
 Bulbs
 Wood density  Wood durability
 Specific gravity  Quarter, rift, and flat sawn lumber
Reading
 Stern: Chapter 6