2.3 Support in Plants
2.3 Support in Plants
3 Support in
Plants
Like humans and animals , plants need support .
Submerged plants
Submerged plants like Hydrilla sp. have very thin , narrow
and flexible leaves .
This type of leaves provide little resistance to water flow .
This means the plant can be tugged at and pulled by water
currents without being damaged .
There are air sacs or air spaces inside the leaves and stems
which keep the plant floating close to the
surface to obtain maximum sunlight .
Since water buoyancy provides support
for these plants , their stems have
no woody tissue . For this reason ,
if plants are removed
from water , they become
limp and floppy .
Hydrilla sp.
Support in aquatic plants
Floating plants
Floating plants like water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) have
broad leaves that are firm but flexible enough to
resist tearing by wave action .
Water hyacinth
Support in terrestrial plants
Herbaceous plants
Support in terrestrial plants such as herbaceous
plants is provided by the turgidity of the parenchyma
and collenchymas cells.
herbaceous plants
Support in terrestrial plants
Woody plants
Support in woody plants provided by sclerenchyma
and xylem tissues .
Sclerenchyma tissue is composed of cells with
secondary cell walls that are usually lignified .
It supports non-growing parts of plants becauses the
cells have thick , rigid , non-stretchable cell walls .
There are two types of sclerenchyma tissues :
fibres and sclereids .
Fibres are long , straight and
thin while sclereids are short ,
circular and irregular shaped .
Creepers
vines
lianas
By group
members :
Michelle Chin
Wong Yih Wen
Tan Wenfei
Nor Farhana
THE Myra
Fatin END.