LIFE SCIENCES

GRADE 11

KNOWLEDGE AREA: Diversity,

change and continuity
TOPIC 1: Support and Transport
in Plants
Orchids

Support and Transport

in Plants
ANATOMY OF DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS
1. Stem
2. Root
SECONDARY GROWTH
 Secondary growth = Growth in the thickness of the plant.
 Concentric rings visible in a cross section of a woody plant
stem.
 Consists
of xylem vessels and tracheids
 Known as annual rings
 Two parts to annual rings:
1. Spring wood – broad, light-coloured band due to favourable
conditions.
2. Autumn wood – narrow, dark-coloured band due to
unfavourable conditions.
SECONDARY GROWTH
 Age of a (cut down) tree is determined by counting the
annual rings.
UPTAKE OF WATER AND MINERAL SALTS
 There is a higher water potential in the soil than in the root
hair.
 The water molecule will move via osmosis through the
selectively permeable membranes into the vacuole.
 Mineral salts are actively absorbed in the root.
UPTAKE OF WATER AND MINERAL SALTS
 Three forces that transports water upward in a plant:
1. Capillarity
2. Root pressure
3. Transpiration pull
TRANSLOCATION
 Translocation = movement of manufactured substances from
the leaves to other parts in the plant.
 The substances are sugars.
 The sugars are transported via phloem from the leaves to the
stem and roots.
 This is an active process (requires energy).
TRANSPIRATION
 Transpiration = loss of water through the aerial parts of the
plant, through the stomata.
 External factors influencing transpiration:
 Temperature
 Lightintensity
 Humidity
 Wind
WILTING
 Occurs when the plant loses more water than what the plant
absorbs.
 Turgot pressure decrease, thus making the stem and leave
appear soft.
 Can be reversed when the plant absorbs water again.