Anatomy of Flowering Plants - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing plant anatomical structures, tissues, root/stem differences, vascular bundle configurations, and leaf modifications based on the lecture notes.

Epidermal Tissue System

The outermost covering of the whole plant body, consisting of epidermis, stomata, trichomes, hair, and cuticle.

Cuticle

A waxy thick layer covering the epidermis that prevents water loss; present in stems and leaves but absent in roots.

Guard Cells

Specialized epidermal cells surrounding the stomatal pore that possess chloroplasts and regulate the opening and closing of stomata; bean-shaped in dicots and dumb-bell shaped in monocots.

Subsidiary Cells

Specialised epidermal cells surrounding guard cells that are modified in shape and size.

Stomatal Apparatus

The complete functional structure consisting of the stomatal pore, guard cells, and surrounding subsidiary cells.

Root Hair

Unicellular elongations of epidermal cells in roots that absorb water and minerals from the soil.

Trichomes

Multicellular stem hairs that may be branched or unbranched, soft or stiff, and sometimes secretory; they help prevent water loss due to transpiration.

Ground Tissue System

All plant tissues except the epidermis and vascular bundles, consisting of simple tissues such as cortex, pericycle, medullary rays, pith, and leaf mesophyll.

Vascular Tissue System

The tissue system composed of xylem and phloem grouped together into vascular bundles.

Conjoint Vascular Bundle

A vascular bundle arrangement where xylem and phloem are located in the same bundle along the same radius, with phloem on the outer side of xylem, as seen in stems.

Open Vascular Bundle

A vascular bundle containing cambium between xylem and phloem, enabling the formation of secondary xylem and phloem (e.g., dicot stem).

Closed Vascular Bundle

A vascular bundle lacking cambium between xylem and phloem, incapable of forming secondary xylem and phloem (e.g., monocot stem).

Radial Vascular Bundle

A vascular arrangement in which xylem and phloem occur in separate, alternating bundles on different radii, characteristic of roots.

Epiblema

The outermost layer (epidermis) of a root from which unicellular root hairs originate.

Casparian Thickening

A strip-like deposition of the waxy material suberin on the endodermal cell walls, rendering the endodermis impermeable to water.

Pericycle

A tissue layer composed of parenchymatous cells next to the endodermis where the initiation of lateral roots and vascular cambium occurs in roots.

Stele

All internal tissues bounded by the endodermis, including the pericycle, vascular bundles, and pith.

Polyarch

A condition in monocot roots characterized by having more than six xylem and phloem bundles.

Starch Sheath

The innermost layer of cortex (endodermis) in a dicot stem, so named because its cells are rich in starch grains.

Bundle Cap

Semi-lunar patches of sclerenchyma located on the inner side of the endodermis above the phloem in a dicot stem.

Medullary Rays

A few layers of radially placed parenchymatous cells located between adjacent vascular bundles in a dicot stem.

Protoxylem Lacunae

Water-containing cavities located within the vascular bundles of monocot stems.

Exarch Xylem

A xylem arrangement where protoxylem lies toward the periphery and metaxylem lies toward the center, characteristic of roots.

Endarch Xylem

A xylem arrangement where protoxylem lies toward the center and metaxylem lies toward the periphery, characteristic of stems.

Palisade Parenchyma

Elongated cells situated beneath the upper epidermis in dorsiventral leaves, arranged vertically and parallel to each other.

Spongy Parenchyma

Oval or round, loosely arranged parenchymatous cells situated beneath the palisade parenchyma in leaves, containing intercellular spaces and air cavities.

Bulliform Cells

Large, empty, colourless epidermal cells on the upper epidermis of many grasses that absorb water to expand the leaf surface when turgid, and cause inward leaf curling to prevent water loss when flaccid.

Dorsiventral Leaf

A dicotyledonous leaf type characterized by mesophyll differentiated into palisade and spongy parenchyma, with more stomata present on the lower (abaxial) epidermis.

Isobilateral Leaf

A monocotyledonous leaf type characterized by undifferentiated mesophyll, equal distribution of stomata on both upper and lower epidermal surfaces, and dumbbell-shaped guard cells.