Table of Contents
What is an underground stem in a fern called?
Ferns do not have aerial stems in the manner of many other vascular plants. Instead, the leaves arise directly from an underground stem (rhizome) or a very short vertical stem at or near the soil surface. Each fern leaf is called a frond, and each fern plant may have from one to many fronds.
What is the underground part of the stem?
Roots, rhizomes, bulbs, and tubers These are the underground parts, which are usually organs of perennation for the plants. Rhizomes are underground stems which grow beneath the surface of soil; they are frequently fleshy and serve as organs of food storage.
What is the underground stem of a potato plant called?
It is a root vegetable. The tuber is a special part of the plant that is used to store the food. The tuber is a regenerative organ that is used for vegetative propagation in potatoes. The tubers consist of many adventitious buds that grow to form potatoes.
Where are the protoxylem cells located in a fern?
According to Kenrick and Crane (1997), the mesarch (derived in the middle) protoxylem (protoxylem = the water-conducting cells that are the first to grow in a developing stem, the result of primary growth) in ferns is confined to lobes of the xylem strand (Fig. 1).
What kind of substrate does a fern grow on?
Fern stems (rhizomes) are often inconspicuous because they generally grow below the surface of the substrate in which the fern is growing. This substrate can be soil, moss or duff. People often confuse rhizomes with roots. Fern roots are generally thin and wiry in texture and grow along the stem.
How does a fern move food through its phloem?
To move food throughout the fern, glucose is pumped into the sieve elements (this process requires cellular energy). Water also moves into the phloem tissue via osmosis, creating a pressure that “pushes” the glucose throughout the plant. Ferns are only capable of primary growth i.e. growing upward.
What is the part of a fern without a pinnae?
The portion of the rachis without pinnae is referred to as the stipe (petiole), which attaches directly to the rhizome. Most fern fronds also have circinate vernation, in which the new growth is tightly coiled in a fractal spiral, which gradually unfurls as the leaf develops, protecting the meristem.