External Structure of Woody Stems
Rings that circle the stem and indicate where last year's growth started.
What are bud scale scars?
Trees with strong terminal buds on the main vertical stem that grow tall and straight with branches coming from a large central shaft have this type of branching.
What is spire-like branching?
The type of wood that carries water and minerals upward in a plant from the roots to the leaves.
What is xylem?
Name for the older, inner wood of a tree whose xylem tubes have become clogged and sealed off.
What is heartwood?
Bundles of xylem and phloem tubes in an herbaceous stem.
What are vascular bundles?
The large bud at the end of a twig that allows a stem to grow in LENGTH.
What is a terminal bud or apical bud?
Trees with strong lateral buds and several main branches rather close to the ground have this type of branching.
What is spreading branching?
Short, wide barrel-shaped cells (in broadleaf trees) that are joined end to end like concrete pipes and allow water to be transported through them faster than tracheids.
What are vessels?
Name for the younger, lighter-colored functioning wood of a tree.
What is sapwood?
Tissue in which the vascular bundles are embedded.
What is the cortex?
Small openings in the bark that allow air to enter the stem.
What are lenticels?
The kind of growth that involves stems growing in length at the tips of their branches.
What is primary growth?
A thin, slimy layer of meristematic tissue between the bark and the wood that produces new bark and new xylem and is responsible for secondary growth in woody stems.
What is vascular cambium?
The center of a woody stem in a young plant.
What is pith?
The outer covering of a monocot stem.
What is the rind?
The section of the twig between the nodes.
What is an internode?
The terminal bud of a tree produces __________ that control the growth of the lateral buds.
What are hormones?
The name for the outer section of a woody stem, which protects the stem and contains phloem.
What is bark?
An increase in the thickness of a tree.
What is secondary growth?
Herbaceous plants with vascular bundles arranged in a ring around the pith.
What is an herbaceous dicot?
These marks reveal where leaves were attached to the stem in previous years.
What are leaf scars?
The kind of tissue that allows a woody stem to grow and heal itself.
What is meristematic tissue?
A simple system of water-conducting cells in conifers (cone bearing trees).
What are tracheids?
Distinct layers of xylem consisting of one layer of spring and summerwood taken together.
What are annual growth rings?
Herbaceous plants with vascular bundles scattered throughout the stem.
What are herbaceous monocots?