Plant tissues

Examples of tissue in other multicellular organisms are vascular tissue

in plants, such as xylem and phloem. Plant tissues are categorized
broadly into three tissue systems: the epidermis, the ground tissue,
and the vascular tissue. Together they are often referred to as
biomass.

* Epidermis - Cells forming the outer surface of the leaves and of the
young plant body.

* Vascular tissue - The primary components of vascular tissue are

the xylem and phloem. These transport fluid and nutrients internally.

* Ground tissue - Ground tissue is less differentiated than other

tissues. Ground tissue manufactures nutrients by photosynthesis and
stores reserve nutrients.

Plant tissues can also be divided differently into two types:

1. Meristematic tissues

2. Permanent tissues

Meristematic tissues

The growth of plant occurs only in certain specific regions. At these

regions, the meristematic tissues are present. New cells produced by
meristem are initially those of meristem itself, but as they grow and
mature, their characteristics slowly change and they become
differentiated as components of other tissues. Depending on the region
of occurrence of meristimatic tissues they are classified as:

a) Apical Meristem - It is present at the growing tips of stems and

roots and increases the length of the stem and root. They form growing
parts at the apices of roots and stems and are responsible for increase
in length,also called primary growth.This meristem is responsible for
the linear growth of an organ.

b) Lateral Meristem - This meristem consist of cells which

mainly divide in one plane and cause the organ to increase in diameter
and growth. Lateral Meristem usually occurs beneath the bark of the
tree in the form of Cork Cambium and in vascular bundles of dicots in
the form of vascular cambium. The activity of this cambium results in
the formation of secondary growth.

c) Intercalary Meristem - This meristem is located in between

permanent tissues. It is usually present at the base of node, inter node
and on leaf base. They are responsible for growth in length of the
plant.This adds growth in the girth of stem.

The cells of meristematic tissues are similar in structure and have thin
and elastic primary cell wall made up of cellulose. They are compactly
arranged without inter-cellular spaces between them. Each cell
contains a dense cytoplasm and a prominent nucleus. Dense
protoplasm of meristematic cells contains very few vacuoles. Normally
the meristematic cells are oval, polygonal or rectangular in shape.

Meristemetic tissue cells have a large nucleus with small or no

vacuoles, they have no inter cellular spaces.

Permanent tissues

The meristematic tissues that take up a specific role lose the ability to
divide. This process of taking up a permanent shape, size and a
function is called cellular differentiation. Cells of meristematic tissue
differentiate to form different types of permanent tissue. There are 2
types of permanent tissues:

Simple permanent tissues

These tissues are called simple because they are composed of similar
types of cells which have common origin and function. They are further
classified into:

1. Parenchyma

2. Chlorenchyma

3. Collenchyma

4. Sclerenchyma

Parenchyma

Parenchyma is Greek word where "parn" means besides and "enchien"

means to pour. Parenchyma is the most specialized primitive tissue. It
mainly consist of thin-walled cells which have inter-cellular spaces
between them. The cell wall is made up of cellulose. Each
parenchymatous cell is iso-diametric, spherical, or oval in shape. It is
widely distributed in various plant organs like root, stem, leaf, flowers
and fruits. They mainly occur in the cortex epidermis, and pith, as well
as in the mesophyll of leaves.

The main function of parenchymatous tissue is assimilation and

storage of reserve food materials like starch, fats and proteins. They
also store waste products such as gums, resins, and inorganic waste
materials.

Chlorenchyma

The cells of this tissue are characterized by having chloroplasts

(containing chlorophyll). It is found in the palisade and spongy tissues
in the green leaves and the stem cortex of the herbs where
photosynthesis occurs.

Collenchyma

Collenchyma is Greek word where "Collen" means gum and "enchyma"

means infusion. It is a living tissue of primary body like Parenchyma.
Cells are thin-walled but possess thickening of cellulose and pectin
substances at the corners where number of cells join together. This
tissue gives a tensile strength to the plant and the cells are compactly
arranged and do not have inter-cellular spaces. It occurs chiefly in
hypodermis of stems and leaves. It is absent in monocots and in roots.

Collenchymatous tissue acts as a supporting tissue in stems of young

plants. It provides mechanical support, elasticity, and tensile strength
to the plant body. It helps in manufacturing sugar and storing it as
starch. It is present in margin of leaves and resist tearing effect of the
wind.

Sclerenchyma

Sclerenchyma is Greek word where "Sclrenes" means hard and

"enchyma" means infusion. This tissue consists of thick-walled, dead
cells. These cells have hard and extremely thick secondary walls due
to uniform distribution of lignin. Lignin deposition is so thick that the
cell walls become strong, rigid and impermeable to water.
Sclerenchymatous cells are closely packed without inter-cellular
spaces between them. Thus, they appear as hexagonal net in
transverse section. The cells are cemented with the help of lamella.
The middle lamella is a wall that lies between adjacent cells.
Sclerenchymatous cells mainly occur in hypodermis, pericycle,
secondary xylem and phloem. They also occur in endocorp of almond
and coconut. It is made of pectin, lignin, protein. The cells of
sclerenchymatous cells can be classified as :

1. Fibres- Fibres are long, elongated sclerenchymatous cells with

pointed ends.

2. Sclerides- Sclerenchymatous cells which are short and possess

extremely thick, lamellated, lignified walls with long singular piths.
They are called sclerides.

The main function of Sclerenchymatous tissues is to give support to

the plant.

Complex permanent tissue

A complex permanent tissue may be classified as a group of more than

one type of tissue having a common origin and working together as a
unit to perform a function. These tissues are concerned with
transportation of water, mineral, nutrients and organic substances. The
important complex tissues in vascular plants are xylem, phloem.

Xylem

Xylem is a chief, conducting tissue of vascular plants. It is responsible

for conduction of water and inorganic solutes.

Xylem is an important plant tissue as it is part of the ‘plumbing’ of a

plant. Think of bundles of pipes running along the main axis of stems
and roots. It carries water and dissolved substances throughout and
consists of a combination of parenchyma cells, fibers, vessels,
tracheids and ray cells. Long tubes made up of individual cells are the
vessels, while vessel members are open at each end. Internally, there
may be bars of wall material extending across the open space. These
cells are joined end to end to form long tubes. Vessel members and
tracheids are dead at maturity. Tracheids have thick secondary cell
walls and are tapered at the ends. They do not have end openings
such as the vessels. The tracheids ends overlap with each other, with
pairs of pits present. The pit pairs allow water to pass from cell to cell.
While most conduction in the xylem is up and down, there is some
side-to-side or lateral conduction via rays. Rays are horizontal rows of
long-living parenchyma cells that arise out of the vascular cambium. In
trees, and other woody plants, ray will radiate out from the center of
stems and roots and in cross-section will look like the spokes of a
wheel.

Phloem

Phloem is an equally important plant tissue as it also is part of the

‘plumbing’ of a plant. Primarily, phloem carries dissolved food
substances throughout the plant. This conduction system is composed
of sieve-tube member and companion cells, that are without secondary
walls. The parent cells of the vascular cambium produce both xylem
and phloem. This usually also includes fibers, parenchyma and ray
cells. Sieve tubes are formed from sieve-tube members laid end to
end. The end walls, unlike vessel members in xylem, do not have
openings. The end walls, however, are full of small pores where
cytoplasm extends from cell to cell. These porous connections are
called sieve plates. In spite of the fact that their cytoplasm is actively
involved in the conduction of food materials, sieve-tube members do
not have nuclei at maturity. It is the companion cells that are nestled
between sieve-tube members that function in some manner bringing
about the conduction of food. Sieve-tube members that are alive
contain a polymer called callose. Callose stays in solution as long at
the cell contents are under pressure. As a repair mechanism, if an
insect injures a cell and the pressure drops, the callose will precipitate.
However, the callose and a phloem protein will be moved through the
nearest sieve plate where they will for a plug. This prevents further
leakage of sieve tube contents and the injury is not necessarily fatal to
overall plant turgor pressure.