Perspective

Except in the very youngest regions, the stems and roots of woody plants (specifically, gymnosperms and dicotyledons) are covered by bark consisting of the functional secondary phloem and rhytidome, a complex tissue comprised of successively formed periderms, often of overlapping shell-like morphology, between which are enclosed dead cortical and/or phloem tissues. The outer covering of stems of large monocotyledons differs from that of woody dicotyledons and will be discussed later. The outer bark of woody dicotyledons, consisting primarily of rhytidome, is a protective layer which restricts entrance of both insects and microorganisms and also protects the inner living tissues from temperature extremes. It also inhibits water loss through evaporation, but at the same time allows gaseous exchange through specialized regions in the periderm called lenticels. In addition it supplements the secondary xylem in stiffening young stems (Niklas, 1999), thus contributing to their ability to withstand the bending forces exerted by excessive wind and/or the weight of ice.

Periderm: structure and development

Periderm consists of phellem and phelloderm, both derived from a single-layered secondary meristem, the phellogen (Fig. 13.1a, b). Cells of the phellogen are tabular, radially thin, somewhat elongate, and polygonal as viewed tangentially. In many plants the phellogen forms at about the same level in the stem and at about the same time as the vascular cambium. The site of its initiation is highly variable but often is an outer layer of cortical parenchyma one or two layers beneath the epidermis (Fig. 13.1b).

Perspective: the origin of vascular plants

Land plants, plants that complete their life cycle entirely in a terrestrial environment, are represented largely by bryophytes and vascular plants. In all taxa except seed plants, however, at least a thin film of water is required for fertilization; and even in two primitive groups of seed plants, the cycads and Ginkgo, fertilization is by free-swimming spermatozoids released into a liquid medium in the archegonial chamber. A few angiosperms, although terrestrial in origin, have reverted to an aquatic existence.

Vascular plants are by far the dominant groups on the Earth comprising over 255,000 species in contrast to about 22,000 species of bryophytes and approximately 20,000 species of algae. The first vascular plants appear in the fossil record in the late Silurian, about 420 million years ago, but their green algal ancestors are thought to have appeared nearly 400 million years earlier! Shared features comprise the major evidence that vascular plants, possibly also bryophytes, evolved from green algae: both synthesize chlorophylls a and b, both store true starch in plastids; both have motile cells with whiplash flagella, and both (but only a few green algae) are characterized by phragmoplast and cell plate formation following mitosis. A green alga, with these and other significant characteristics, that may provide a model of an algal ancestor of vascular plants is Coleochaete, a member of the Charophyceae.

Although it has been only five years since this book was first published, research activity during this period in many areas of plant development has resulted in much new and important information. The basic information on plant structure is quite stable. As a result, inclusion of new information about various aspects of development comprise the major changes in this 2nd edition. In addition, a new section on the evolution of tracheary elements has been added.

The areas expanded and/or upgraded include the structure and function of the cytoskeleton, and its roles in cell wall formation and pollen tube tip growth; the role of auxin and other hormones in development, especially in the development of tracheary elements, as well as in cambial activity and tissue patterning, and the role of PIN proteins in the movement of auxin from cell to cell by auxin efflux transporters. The discussion on the mechanism of movement of stomatal guard cells has been expanded and improved. Sections on long-distance transport in the secondary xylem and phloem have been modified to emphasize widely accepted mechanisms of transport, and the discussion of bidirectional transport in the phloem has been expanded. The discussion of gravitropism has been brought up to date. Finally, throughout the book, discussions of the role of genetics in plant development have been expanded.

I believe the changes listed above have made the book more useful to advanced students and researchers without adversely affecting its usefulness as an introductory plant anatomy textbook.

Perspective

Most of the major taxa of vascular plants produce secondary xylem derived from the vascular cambium. Pteridophytes (except some extinct taxa), most monocotyledons, and a few species of largely aquatic dicotyledons, however, produce only primary vascular tissues. In woody plants secondary xylem comprises the bulk of the tissue in the stems and roots. It is the most important supporting tissue in arborescent dicotyledons and most gymnosperms, and the major tissue for the transport of water and essential minerals in woody plants. Secondary xylem is a complex tissue that consists not only of non-living supporting and conducting cells but also of important living components (rays and axial wood parenchyma) which, with those in the secondary phloem, comprise a three-dimensional symplastic pathway through which photosynthate and other essential molecular substances are transported thoughout the secondary tissues of the plant (Chaffey and Barlow, 2001; see pp. 206–207 for more detail). Additional increments of this tissue are added during each growing season (usually annually), but in older regions of most woody species only the outer increments are functional in transport although the number of increments that remain functional varies greatly among different species. Older increments gradually become plugged by the deposition in them of waste metabolites such as resins, tannins, and in some species by the formation of tyloses (balloon-like extensions of axial or ray parenchyma cells into adjacent conducting cells). The inner non-functional secondary xylem is called heartwood, the outer functional secondary xylem, sapwood.

Perspective

The eukaryotic cell is composed, with a few exceptions, of both a living protoplast, the site of cellular metabolism, and an enclosing cellulosic wall of one or more layers (Fig. 3.1). While not alive as a structural unit, the wall is commonly traversed by living components, plasmodesmata, which connect adjacent protoplasts and thus facilitate communication between, and the integration of, cells within a tissue. All plant cells possess a protoplast during development, and in many it persists throughout the life of the plant. Some cells, however, do not achieve their ultimate functional state until the protoplast dies as, for example, a specialized water-conducting cell such as a vessel member.

The protoplasts of all plant cells are basically similar, but may differ in relation to the function of the mature cells. For example, the protoplast of a parenchyma cell in the outer cortex or in a leaf will contain many chloroplasts since a major function of these cells is photosynthesis. In contrast, a cell of the pith (a storage region) in the center of the stem may lack chloroplasts but will contain unpigmented plastids in which starch is synthesized (amyloplasts). The protoplast of an immature vessel member, however, destined to die, may contain no plastids at all, or plastids of a highly modified type.

Each cell protoplast is characterized by the potential for the development of an entire organism (see Steward et al., 1964). This total potentiality is, however, rarely achieved under normal conditions.

Perspective

Among the unusually interesting and unique aspects of plants is their indeterminate mode of growth. This results from the presence of apical meristems by which new cells and tissues are added to the plant body during every period of growth. As a consequence plants have the potential to increase in size at regular intervals throughout their lives, which accounts for the large size of some plants such as the redwoods of California as well as many hardwood tree species of temperate and tropical forests.

A meristem is a localized region of tissue which, by cell division, adds new cells to a plant or plant part. In the shoots of vascular plants the activity of meristems results in an increase in length and/or diameter, and following cell growth and differentiation, formation of the various mature tissue regions of the axes as well as the formation of organs such as leaves, cone scales, sporophylls, stipules, flower parts, etc. Some meristems are self-perpetuating, and thus can be considered to be “permanent” meristems. Most apical meristems and the vascular cambium are meristems of this type and, as a result of their activity, provide vascular plants with their mode of indeterminate growth. Others, such as the meristems that contribute to the formation of the petiole and blade of leaves, flower parts, and the various other lateral appendages of non-seed plants, cease functioning when these organs, characterized by determinate growth, reach their genetically predetermined size and form.

Perspective: evolution of the phloem

With increase in the size of plants over geologic time, efficient systems for the transport of water and minerals (primary and secondary xylem) as well as for photosynthates, hormones and other substances (primary and secondary phloem) evolved (see Chapter 1). The protoplasts of differentiating conducting cells of the xylem (tracheids and vessel members) were eliminated through autolysis, thus providing at functional maturity open, but non-living, passageways through which water could be pulled upward and out through the leaves by the force of transpiration (see Chapter 11). Evolution in the phloem took a different course. An open, but living, system of interconnected tubes, formed by overlapping sieve cells in gymnosperms (and more primitive vascular plants), and superposed sieve tube members forming sieve tubes in angiosperms evolved. The protoplasts of sieve elements became degraded, losing the nucleus, tonoplast (vacuolar membrane), and all other organelles except some mitochondria, plastids, and endoplasmic reticulum. In conifers and dicotyledons, distinctive plastids and P-proteins (phloem proteins) evolved and, with the mitochondria and ER, became located peripherally in the cells. Concurrently, plasmodesmata which connected contiguous sieve tube members were replaced by open pores, thus forming a symplastic system of essentially unimpeded passageways (Ehlers et al., 2000) through which photosynthate and other molecular substances were transported throughout the plant. Although living, but because of the loss of the nucleus, the sieve elements were no longer able to control their genetic and metabolic activities.

Perspective: evolution of the leaf

All vascular plants except their most primitive ancestors are characterized by leaves (see Chapter 1). As the primary photosynthetic organs, leaves are of great significance not only to the plant but also to many other organisms, including humans, that rely on plants as a source of food. Botanists interested in plant evolution believe that leaves evolved in at least two ways, and in possibly five independent lines in vascular plants (see Niklas, 1997). The leaves of lycophytes are considered enations because they are thought to have evolved as simple outgrowths from stems. These leaves, often referred to as microphylls, are commonly small although those of some extinct taxa attained great lengths (up to 1 meter in some members of the Lepidodendrales). Like all microphylls, however, they were vascularized by only a single midvein. In seed plants and ferns (possibly also in sphenophytes) leaves are thought to represent evolutionarily modified lateral branch systems. This hypothesis (the telome hypothesis) is based on the fact that the earliest seed plant ancestors were leafless, but bore small lateral branch systems. The fossil evidence indicates that over time, three-dimensional branch systems became flattened and subsequently laminate. Seed plant leaves which, on average, are much larger, and much more complex than those of lycophytes in both gross morphology and internal structure, are often referred to as megaphylls. For more detailed discussions of the evolution of leaves see Steward and Rothwell (1993) and Taylor and Taylor (1993).

Perspective

Waste products in animals are excreted to the exterior through the digestive system, the urinary system, and, to a lesser extent, through sweat glands. By contrast, in the plant, waste products of metabolism as well as substances that will be further utilized are stored within individual cells or transferred to regions of living or non-living tissues or into cavities and ducts within the organism. A good example is the transfer of waste metabolites into the secondary wood (with the consequent formation of heartwood) where they are isolated from the functional regions of the plant body. The transfer of metabolites from one site to another is referred to as secretion rather than excretion although some substances are transferred to the plant surface, such as precursor compounds of cutin and waxes and a variety of substances that exit the plant through glands and glandular hairs. This concept of secretion also includes the transfer of substances within single cells such as, for example, the movement of enzymes to chloroplasts, sites of photosynthesis, and the transport in vesicles of precursors of cellulose to sites of wall synthesis. We can, thus, define secretion in plants as the transfer of certain intermediate or end products of metabolism from one region to another within the cell or out of the protoplast to another part of the plant body.

Substances secreted by plants

Both metabolic and non-metabolic substances are transferred within or to the exterior of the plant body.

Perspective: the plant life cycle

Reproduction in higher plants is relatively complex, involving a life cycle consisting of two phases, a diploid sporophyte phase and a haploid gametophyte phase, comprising what is called an alternation of generations. The prominent bodies of angiosperm trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals as well as those of gymnosperms, ferns, sphenophytes, and lycophytes are sporophytes, having developed from fertilized egg cells (zygotes). The gametes which fused to form the zygotes, however, were produced by gametophytes, very small plant bodies, parasitic on the sporophytes in seed plants, but somewhat larger and free-living in pteridophytes (except in heterosporous species in which gametophytes when mature remain, at least in part, within the walls of the spores from which they develop).

The sporophyte in pteridophytes is dominant, and although dependent initially for its nutrition on the gametophyte, soon becomes independent. The gametophyte is much reduced in size but is free-living and either autotrophic or saprophytic. In seed plants, the sporophyte is also dominant and initially dependent on the gametophyte, but soon becomes independent. The gametophyte is greatly reduced, however, and parasitic on the sporophyte. In angiosperms it is exceptionally small, consisting in many taxa of only seven cells and eight nuclei, and can be observed only with a microscope.

The life cycle of a vascular plant can be summarized as follows. The sporophyte produces specialized cells called sporocytes that undergo meiosis producing haploid spores. The spores germinate to form the gametophytes in which gametes are produced.

Perspective

Most terrestrial plants live in a highly evaporative environment and one in which they are constantly exposed to toxic substances, to attack and invasion by various small insects and pathogens, to the potentially damaging effects of solar radiation, and to potential damage from high winds. Consequently, several protective tissues have evolved that reduce water loss from the plant, restrict the entry of organisms and toxic substances into the plant body, mitigate the effects of radiation, and strengthen and support the plant thereby reducing its susceptibility to damage from rapid air movement. These include the epidermis of shoot and root systems (sometimes called rhizodermis in the root), the periderm and the rhytidome. These tissues, while providing these functions, must also under certain conditions allow oxygen used in respiration to enter the plant and carbon dioxide utilized in photosynthesis to exit the plant. Consequently, the epidermis and other superficial, protective tissues represent both structural and functional compromises. As the bounding tissue of all young parts of a plant, and of the aerial parts of plants that are comprised solely or largely of primary tissues, the epidermis also provides an important supporting function. In the stem of Tulipa (tulip), for example, the epidermis plus a layer of subepidermal collenchyma can contribute as much as 50% to overall stem stiffness (Niklas and Paolillo, 1997). We shall consider the epidermis in some detail in this chapter, and periderm and rhytidome in Chapter 13.

Perspective: role of the vascular cambium

As the vascular cambium becomes active and secondary tissues are formed, the consequent increase in diameter of the stem may have profound effects on the primary body. This is especially true in woody, arborescent taxa among conifers and dicotyledons. The vascular cambium is an extensive, permanent secondary meristem, one cell thick, conical in form, often described as cylindrical, that begins its development between primary xylem and primary phloem. In most gymnosperms and dicotyledons it is present in all main stems and roots and their branches, extending from near their tips to the bases of stems and roots. In some woody plants it even extends into leaf petioles. In most woody taxa it differentiates first in developing vascular bundles at about the same time as metaxylem begins its development (Figs 9.1a, b, 9.2), that is, after elongation in the provascular strands has ceased. This fascicular cambium may become active, producing some secondary xylem and phloem before cambial differentiation occurs between the bundles (Fig. 9.1b), that is, in the interfascicular regions. In many woody, arborescent taxa, additional provascular strands differentiate between the initial vascular bundles, often so close together that they may contact each other laterally (Fig. 9.1b, c). The vascular cambium then becomes continuous across the vascular bundles (Fig. 9.1c, d).

Since my introduction to plant anatomy by William Strickland at the University of Richmond and my interaction with Arthur Eames and Harlan Banks at Cornell University during graduate study, I have been entranced by the elegant beauty of plant structure. At the University of Michigan I taught both paleobotany and plant anatomy for many years, and served as committee chair for graduate students, some of whom studied fossil plants and others of whom worked on the structure and development of extant taxa. During the past several decades during which the introduction of new techniques of study at the subcellular and molecular levels has resulted in a resurgence of research throughout the world, my interest in the development of plant structure has grown steadily.

Many books on plant structure, some highly technical, have appeared since the publication of the seminal textbooks of Katherine Esau during the 1950s and 1960s, but no single book that, in my opinion, incorporates both the basic knowledge of plant anatomy and contemporary information and ideas about the development of structure and form that could be used as an effective introductory textbook. Consequently, I have tried to meet the challenge of preparing such a book. In each chapter I have presented what I consider to be the fundamental knowledge essential for an understanding of basic plant structure and development and have integrated with this the results of some of the most significant recent research on plant development.

Perspective: evolution of the root

The anatomy of the root reflects its origin, its subterranean environment, and its function. The first vascular plants (Rhyniophyta) lacked roots, and absorption of water and nutrients was facilitated by rhizoids. Roots evolved in the seed plant clade (rhyniophytes, trimerophytes, progymnosperms, seed plants) as well as in lycophytes, sphenophytes, and ferns in response to the pressures of a land environment and increasing plant size. During their evolution important functions such as anchorage, absorption and transport of minerals and water, and storage of photosynthate were established. In some ways, however, roots changed relatively little through time, resulting from the subterranean environment in which they evolved, and the fact that roots were, thus, not exposed to the same intense selection pressures as stems.

The seed plant root (Fig. 16.1a, b) is considered by most researchers to be an evolutionarily modified stem although it has also been suggested that it might be an entirely new organ that evolved independently of the stem. The predominant view is supported by the fact that the structure of the root of extant plants is remarkably similar to the anatomy of the stem of their ancestors. Even in many plants with stems of siphonostelic or eustelic structure, the roots are protostelic (Fig. 16.1b), also a feature of the stems of very primitive plants. Roots with central piths have an alternate arrangement of xylem and phloem that may reflect a protostelic origin.