Plant stems include solid tree trunks, flexible vines and nearly stemless strawberries.
Displays that describe the parts of a plant, or plant anatomy, use a generalized picture of a vascular plant. Vascular plants have tubular cells to move fluids. Both flowering plants (angiosperms) and cone bearing plants (gymnosperms) are used as plant models. Side pictures of a cone, a flower, a seed and a wood cross section should be included. Effective displays will include a split view, so that the inside structure of the plant can be seen. Does this Spark an idea?
Roots
Roots have xylem cells to move fluids up from the soil and phloem cells to move sugars down to root cells. There are root hairs on the outside of the roots that are very fine threads through which soil water and nutrients can pass. Root hairs feed into the xylem of the roots. Both the outside and inside of the root should be displayed and the vascular differences between angiosperms and gymnosperms diagrammed.
Stems
The vascular system of the stem is different from roots and the vascular systems of the two groups of angiosperms (monocots and dicots) are different from each other. There should be a split section of a generalized stem plus cross sections of monocot and dicot stems to display the differences. The outside of stems have structural elements that should be displayed, particularly apical meristem (growing point), bracts, nodes, side branch and flower attachments, and spines
Leaves
The plant display should include several types of leaves -- such as palm, oak, corn, pine and carrot -- to demonstrate the different vascular system arrangements possible in leaves. Leaf internal structure significant, so include a leaf cross section showing the layers of cells alongside a simple, magnified diagram showing the structures important for photosynthesis. A diagram of a leaf attached to a stem can be used to display the exterior structures.
Flowers, Cones, Seeds
Split pictures of a flower and a cone will be included in the display. These can diagram the external parts and also show the male (anthers and filament) and female (stigma and style) reproductive structures inside. Two different views of the interior of a seed will display the differences between monocots and dicots. The seed views will include the seed leaves (cotyledons), endosperm, seed coat, radicle (future root) and plumule (future stem).
Tags: cells move, cells move fluids, cross section, differences between, different from, display differences, monocots dicots
