Encyclopedia > Meristem

  Article Content

Meristem

An embryonic tissue of a plant, analogous in function to stem cells in animals. Meristematic cells are differentiated incompletely or not at all. Differentiated plant cells often have unique structures that would make it problematic for them to produce cells of a different type; thus, the plant draws upon meristematic tissue to grow.

The most general form of meristem is the apical meristem, found in buds at the tips of shoots and roots. Apical meristem is completely undifferentiated. It differentiates into three different kinds of primary meristem:

The vascular cambium and cork cambium are called lateral meristem, because they lie around the sides of established stems.

The comprehensive textbook Biology, 6th ed., by Neil A. Campbell and Jane B. Reece, published by Benjamin Cummings, has been used as a source.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
North Lindenhurst, New York

... is spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 33.8% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 37 ms