Class 9 chapter- 6: PART-I- PLANT TISSUES Notes

KEY CONCEPTS (* rating as per significance of concept) RATING

Introduction to tissues and types of tissues **
Meristematic tissues in plants ***
Permanent tissues in plants ****
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Tissues:
- A group of cells having similar origin, structure and function is called tissues.
- Study of tissues is called Histology.
- In unicellular organism like Amoeba, a single cell performs all basic function.
- In multi-cellular organisms like Plants and Animals, there is a division of labour as Plant tissue and
Animal tissues respectively.
- There are two types of tissues: Plant tissues and Animal tissues.
- Plants are stationary or fixed- they are in sedentary existence [i.e., they don’t move]. So, to be upright
they have a large quantity of supportive tissue which are usually made of dead cells.
- On the other hand, the animals are in active locomotion in order to move around in search of food,
shelter and mates. Most of the tissues which they contain are made of living cells.
- Animals consume more energy in comparison to plants for movement.

TEST YOURSELF:
1) What is histology.
2) Define tissues.
3) What is the utility of tissues in multi-cellular
organisms?
4) Why is the pattern of growth different in plants
and animals?

Plant tissues:
- There are two types of plant tissues: Growing or Meristematic tissues and Permanent tissues.

Meristematic tissues:
- Meristems are cuboidal in shape. They have no intercellular space and are tightly packed.
- The growth of plants occurs only in specific regions because of the meristematic tissue.
- Meristematic tissue is also known as growing or dividing tissue.
- The Meristems are the tissues having the power of cell division.
- It is found on those region of the plant which grows.
- The cells of meristematic tissues are very active, have dense cytoplasm, thin cellulose walls, a prominent
nuclei and lack vacuoles.
- Since meristems are young cells and are actively dividing, they do not participate in food preparation. Also,
they do not produce a large amount of waste. Hence, they lack vacuoles.
- On the basis of the region where they are present, there are three types of
meristematic tissue;

(i) The Apical meristems:

- It is present at the growing tip of the stem and roots and increases the length.

(ii) The lateral meristems:

- Present at the lateral side of stem and root and increases the girth (thickness).
- Lateral meristem is also known as cambium.

(iii) The intercalary meristems:

- present at internodes or base of the leaves and increases the length between the
nodes. Distance b/w two nodes are called internodes.
 TEST YOURSELF:
1) Define meristematic tissue.
2) Where is the apical meristem located?
3) Where is the lateral meristem located?
4) Where is the intercalary meristem located?

Permanent tissues:
- Meristems take up a specific role and lose the ability to divide. As a result, they form a permanent tissue.
- The process of taking up a permanent shape, size and a function is called differentiation.
- Differentiation leads to the development of various types of permanent tissues- simple permanent tissues
and complex permanent tissues.

Types of simple permanent tissues: they are composed of only one type of cell.
(i) Parenchyma:
- It is the most common type of simple permanent tissue. They consists of relatively unspecialized cells.
- They are living cells. Generally oval, has thin cell walls and has large central vacuoles. They are loosely
packed and has large intracellular space.

Functions:
- Storage of food and water.
- They help in tissue repair.
- Parenchyma with chlorophyll which performs photosynthesis is called as chlorenchyma.
- Parenchyma with large air cavities which needs to float on water, is called as aerenchyma.
(ii) Collenchyma:
- Oval or polygonal shaped cells.
- They have very little intercellular space.
- Irregularly thickened at the corners. The cell wall gets thickened due to the deposition of cellulose and
pectin. - They consists of elongated cells.
Functions:
- Gives flexibility to growing parts of the plants.
- It allows bending of various parts of plants like tendrils and stems of climbers without breaking.
- It provides mechanical support to plants.
Location: At the base of the leaf stalk, below epidermis of leaf and present at the tendrils and stems of
climbers.

(iii) Sclerenchyma:
- It makes the plant hard and stiff. They have no intercellular space.
- The cells of this tissues are dead. They are long and narrow.
- The walls of these cells are thickened due to the deposition of lignin.
- These cells are commonly seen in the husk of coconut.
Functions:
- It provides mechanical support and strength to the plants.
Location:
- Hard covering of nuts and seeds.
- Around vascular bundles.
- In stems and veins of leaves.
 TEST YOURSELF:
1) Define permanent tissues.
2) What are the types of permanent tissue?
3) What is a simple permanent tissue? What are its types?
4) Give a note on parenchyma.
5) Give a note on collenchyma.
6) Give a note on sclerenchyma.

Epidermis and epidermal cells:

- It is the outermost layer of the cell. It is usually made up of a single layer of cells.
- They are relatively flat. Their outer walls and side walls are thicker than the inner walls.
- To protect plants from water loss, the epidermis in plants may be thicker in nature.
- Epidermal cells in the aerial parts of the plant, secrete a waxy, water-resistant layer on their outer surface.
- Since they play a protective role, they form a continuous layer without intercellular spaces.
- Epidermal cells which are present in the roots of the plants has the function to absorb water. So, they bear
long hair-like parts which increase surface area for water absorption.
Functions:
- Protection against loss of water, mechanical injury and invasion by parasitic fungi.

Examples:
Cutin:
- In some of the desert plants, the outer surface is made of cutin.
- It is a type of chemical substance with waterproof quality.
- It acts as an type of epidermis or the outer layer of the plant.

Cork:
- As plants grow older the epidermis go through certain changes.
- The cambium located in the cortex constitutes the cork.
- The cells of cork are dead and compactly arranged without intercellular spaces.
- They have a substance called suberin in the walls of the cork which makes it impervious to gases and
water.

Stomata:
- The small pores in the epidermis of the leaf is called the stomata.
- The stomata is enclosed by two guard cells.
- The guard cells are kidney-shaped in dicots and dumb bell-shaped in monocots to guard the cells.
- They are necessary for exchanging gases with the atmosphere.
- Transpiration (the loss of water) also occurs through the stomata.
Complex permanent tissues:
- The complex tissues are made of more than one type of cells.
- All these cells coordinate to perform a common function.
- The complex permanent tissues are subdivided into xylem and phloem.

Xylem:
- It consists of 4 types of cells: tracheids, vessels, xylem
parenchyma and xylem fibres.
- They are tubular structures. The tracheids and vessels
have thick walls and they become dead cells when they
mature. - Since they are
tubular structures they help the parts of plants to
transport water and minerals vertically.
- The xylem parenchyma are living tissues and they store food
and ions.
- The xylem fibres are dead tissues and they provide
mechanical support to plants.

Phloem:
- Phloem transports food from the leaves to other parts of
the plant.
- It is made up of five types of cells: sieve cells, sieve
tubes, companion cells, phloem fibres and phloem parenchyma.
- Sieve cells are also known as gymnosperms. They
have perforated walls and most of the cell organelles and
nucleus is lost. They have pores embedded in them.
- Sieve tubes are tubular cells with perforated walls.
- Sieve cells are placed on top of one another to form a
conductery tube.
- Companion cells sticks to sieve tubes. It helps in loading of
sucrose into the sieve tube element.
- Except phloem fibres other phloem cells are living cells.
- Phloem parenchyma stores starch, latex and resins.

TEST YOURSELF:
1) Give a note on epidermis and epidermal cells.
2) Give examples for epidermis.
3) Define stomata and its functions.
4) Define guard cells and about its shape in dicots and
monocots.
5) What are complex permanent tissues? Write about
its types.
6) Give a note on xylem and its types.
7) Give a note on phloem and its types.