A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the ferns, clubmosses, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms. Scientific names for the group include Tracheophyta and Tracheobionta, but neither name is very widely used.[. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of the stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately which grow into one or more leaves In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In either case, the adaption was made at the expense, inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the (flowers), cones A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta (conifers) that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity. The name "cone" derives from the fact that the shape or other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another. The term shoots Shoots are new plant growth, they can include stems, flowering stems with flower buds, leaves. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spring, perennial plant shoots are the new growth that grows from the ground in herbaceous plants or the new stem and/or flower growth that grows on woody is often confused with stems; shoots generally refer to new fresh plant growth and does include stems but also to other structures like leaves or flowers. The other main structural axis of plants is the root In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating (growing up above the ground or especially above water). Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either (see rhizome). So, it is. In most plants stems are located above the soil surface but some plants have underground stems Underground stems are modified plant structures that derive from stem tissue but exist under the soil surface. Plants have two axes of growth, which can be best seen from seed germination and growth. Seedlings develop two structures or axes of growth, one that develops upward out of the soil, called stems, and structures that develop downward.
Stems have four main functions which are:[1]
- Support for and the elevation of leaves, flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds. The process begins with pollination, is followed by fertilization, leading to the formation and dispersal of the seeds. For and fruits The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, juniper berries and bananas, or the similar-looking structures in other. The stems keep the leaves in the light and provide a place for the plant to keep its flowers and fruits.
- Transport of fluids between the roots and the shoots in the xylem In vascular plants, xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue, phloem being the other. The word "xylem" is derived from classical Greek ξυλον , "wood", and indeed the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout the plant. Its basic function is to transport water but it also transports some and phloem In vascular plants, phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients , particularly sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Greek word φλόος (phloos) "bark". The phloem is concerned mainly with the transport of.
- Storage of nutrients.
- The production of new living tissue. The normal life span of plant cells is one to three years. Stems have cells called meristems A meristem is the tissue in all plants consisting of undifferentiated cells and found in zones of the plant where growth can take place that annually generate new living tissue.
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Southwest Farm Press
Mycelium begins growing on the stem and as conditions become more favorable continues to grow. The disease causes little yield loss, but affects stands ...
