plant tissue

• what is the waxy cuticle?


  oily material reducing evaporation of water and helps prevent the leaf from drying out
• the epidermis


  protects the surface of the leaf
• feature of the upper epidermis


  transparent, allowing light to pass through to the photosynthetic cells
• features of the lower epidermis

  • stomata
  • guard cells
• what are stomata?


  stomata are tiny pores
• what are the roles of the stomata?

  • allows carbon dioxide to enter the leaf and oxygen to leave the leaf.
  • helps control the amount of water vapour that can pass out the leaf
• what is the spongy mesophyll?


  air spaces allowing carbon dioxide to diffuse from the stomata to the palisade cells
• what is the palisade mesophyll?


  layers of cells packed full of chloroplasts containing chlorophyll, absorbing light energy needed for photosynthesis
• what is the xylem tissue?


  tissue transporting water from the roots, to the stems and to the leaves. the water is then used in photosynthesis. it also transports minerals and ions such as magnesium
• what does the magnesium transported by the xylem tissue do?


  makes chlorophyll
• what is the phloem tissue?


  tissue transporting dissolved sugars produced by photosynthesis from the leaves to the plant. the sugars are used quick as glucose in respiration, as well as sugar for starch
• what is translocation?


  the movement of sugars and other molecules through the phloem tissue
• what is the meristem tissue?


  tissue found at the growing tips, for example shoots and roots. they contain stem cells to differentiate into different types of plant tissue