Botany and Plant Physiology Review

Vocabulary and concepts regarding plant anatomy, cellular structures, growth patterns, and water potential principles.

Plasmodesmata

Cellular structures that support the argument that the entire plant should be considered as a single unit rather than a composite of many individual cells.

Mitochondria

A structure found in nearly all eukaryotic cells.

Dictyosomes

Organelles in plant cells responsible for the production of ribosomal subunits.

Central vacuole

The organelle that occupies much of the volume of a plant cell.

An archaeal cell or a plant cell

Types of cells that can contain enzymes, DNA, ribosomes, a plasma membrane, chloroplasts, and mitochondria.

Chloroplasts

Organelles that contain thylakoids, DNA, and ribosomes.

Gap junctions

Structures in animal cells that are most similar in function to plasmodesmata in plant cells.

Meristem

The tissue responsible for plant growth, whose major function is to produce more cells.

Indeterminate

A term used to describe the growth of most plants as compared to the growth of most animals.

Lateral meristem

The structure responsible for causing secondary growth in eudicot stems and roots.

Vascular cambium and Cork cambium

The tissues related to xylem and phloem respectively: Vascular cambium is to xylem as cork cambium is to phloem.

Guard cells

Modified epidermal cells that form the stomata in the leaves of plants.

Collenchyma cells

Cells with unevenly thickened primary walls that support young, growing parts of the plant and provide flexibility.

Stoma

The structure through which $CO_2$ enters the inner spaces of the leaf.

Palisade mesophyll

A ground tissue that performs the function of photosynthesis.

Difference in water potential

The factor that determines the direction of water movement across the membrane.

Root hairs

Structures important to a plant because they increase the surface area for absorption.

Casparian strip

A feature in roots that ensures all water and dissolved substances must pass through a cell membrane before entering the stele.

Opening of stomata

A process thought to involve an increase in the solute concentration of the guard cells.

Potassium ($K$)

An essential nutrient that plays a critical role in the opening and closing of the stomatal aperture.

Net water flow (Root in Sucrose)

If root tissue with $ext{water potential} = -0.15 ext{ MPa}$ is placed in a $0.1 ext{ M}$ solution of sucrose ($ext{water potential} = -0.23 ext{ MPa}$), the flow is from the sucrose solution into the tissue.

Resulting Water Potential ($ext{Ψ}$)

The value of the water potential if pressure potential ($ext{Ψ}_P$) = $0.3 ext{ MPa}$ and solute potential ($ext{Ψ}_S$) = $-0.45 ext{ MPa}$, resulting in $-0.15 ext{ MPa}$.

Leaf air spaces

The location in the plant that has the lowest (most negative) water potential.