16
It's not a single grass cell, but this does indeed appear to be a micrograph of a leaf of grass—so it actually contains numerous cells. Here's another image I was able to find with a much more clear description of exactly what you're seeing:
Marram grass leaf. Light micrograph of a cross section through a closed (unravelled) leaf of Marram ...
14
First, for reference, see here for a discussion about the difference in directional terms between bipeds and quadrupeds as well as a fairly complete explanation of word meanings/etymology.
The etymological meanings of the various anatomical directional terms should help explain their usage in body organs. For example:
Ventral -> "belly" side
Dorsal -&...
13
The question has already been asked in Physics.
According to the information there and here the sprinkling must continue throughout the period when temperatures are below freezing, and is only effective for temperatures down to around -5 °C.
Explanations invoke three interrelated effects: when water freezes heat is released so there is a warming ...
12
Peach, apricot, plum, pear, apple, cherry trees are plants of the same family, Rosaceae, so they are closely related. They share many more aspects than the five petals. In fact, other plants in this family, and even many other dicots have five petal, simply because their share a common ancestry.
12
Glucose, fructose and galactose are the three dietary monosaccharides. Glucose and Fructose are simple monosaccharides found in plants. A monosaccharide is the basic unit of carbohydrate and the simplest form of sugar, glucose are aldose and Fructose are ketose.
If the carbonyl is at position 1 (that is, n or m is zero), the molecule begins with a formyl ...
12
This is a transverse section (T.S.) of leaf blade a sort of Xerophytic (Desert-climate) grasses. such as Ammophila arenaria , Spartina sp, Agropyron sp, Poa pratensis etc. However similar-type-adaptation also seen in other (not-grass) plants.
It is T.S. of an object like this.
(highly diagrammatic, actually it is much more thinner, needle-like).
The 2 ...
11
The two commonly put-forward explanations for spiral growth of tree trunks related to stress-loading and damage-tolerance.
The stress-loading explanation states that spiral-grained trees flex more than straight-grained trees before they break. Flexibility under stress-loading is useful in areas with heavy snowfall (as the tree can flex until the snow falls ...
11
This is due to presence of a hydrophobic chemical called as cutin present at the the aerial surfaces of plants.
Cutin is one of two waxy polymers that are the main components of the plant cuticle, which covers all aerial surfaces of plants. The other major cuticle polymer is cutan, which is much more readily preserved in the fossil record,.[1] Cutin ...
10
First it needs to be said that coconut trees are not true trees, but palms, whose trunks are made of stems which grow in a cross woven pattern.
That being said - its true for any plant that no plant grows from the bottom up. If you make a mark on any plant that mark will not rise much as the plant grows.
Plants grow from buds at the end of their stems. ...
9
This is a question for which, I think at the moment, we don't have a clear answer.
It is important to bear in mind that the leaf plays a number of important roles in the plant (photosynthesis, thermoregulation etc.) so leaf shapes probably evolved through a process of successive trade-offs. This may make it difficult to identify the exact selection ...
9
First of all, you assumption seems to be incorrect. Plants in same part of the world can twine in opposite directions.
Little seems to be known exactly. Gravity has nothing to do with plant's chirality (or "handedness") or spiraling:
How plants do this is still unknown. Darwin proposed that it was "autonomously induced." This came to be known as the ...
8
The vascular system is different in monocots and dicots. In dicots the vascular tissues are arranged in concentric circles; one of these rings is meristematic cells (undifferentiated cells that can differentiate into any cell type). This ring of meristem tissue is called the vascular cambium and is where secondary growth occurs - xylem grows inwards and ...
8
No, its not xylem. Bamboo is a grass, and the stem (culm) of many grasses are hollow in the middle (see e.g. Grass Structures from Oregon state for some more info).
The exact reason for why Bamboo have hollow stems is most likely due to evolutionary contingencies. However, from a mechanical stability point of view, a hollow stem is much more rigid and ...
8
Those bumps are aerial surface hairs, a type of trichome. They are epidermal outgrowths.
Therefore it's vines are of pubescent type.
In addition to facilitating better exchange of gases, it also facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original ...
7
First, allow me to provide the link to an old paper that deals with development in Ananas comosus, it should be freely available and answer this question in more detail: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1936.tb06884.x/pdf
Now, to briefly explain the observation that a mature plant will grow from the region where the leaves of the ...
7
One thing to remember when you uproot a plant is that some of the smallest structures break off most readily. What you will usually see after uprooting the plant are the largest parts of the root structure, but there are often smaller parts which have broken off.
Root structure is highly variable, but the general idea is that one or more primary trunk-like ...
7
I wanted to comment because I don't think my answer will be the best, but I can't because of my low reputation... Anyway, here are two suggestions:
Plant Physiology and Development, by Lincoln Taiz, Eduardo Zeiger & al.
Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants, edited by Bob B. Buchanan, Wilhelm Gruissem and Russell L.Jones
These are the two main ...
6
Yes it is possible, and as far as I can see, there should not be any plant which would be impossible to grow in a such an environment, just more or less difficult, although this is just my speculation.
I have myself grown tomatoes from only a liquid solution of minerals and nutrients, but you have to change the solution from time to time to prevent ...
6
The sporophtye is the diploid stage in the life cycle. In comparison, with humans, you and I would be sporophytes.
The Gametophyte is the haploid stage in the life cycle. In comparison, with humans, spermatozoids and ovules are gametophytes.
Independence
Note for what follows: "independent" can be understood in terms of "ability to survive". Being ...
6
I think that the most important point has been given by CactusWoman, when (s)he says "Just because you cannot forsee a use for more "bulgy" spikes doesn't mean there isn't a use for them."
In addition to that, I would like to say that several plants evolved traits that were beneficial at a time where other herbivores existed and that are now useless. Those ...
6
Having had a self-sown pumpkin grow in my back yard I can tell you what happened with the tendril in your picture.
The tendril started growing straight, with a couple of branches. When one of the tendril branches touched something (looks like the middle one in your picture), the tip began to curl as it grew, in order to latch onto it. Shortly after, the ...
6
Chili is a common reference to chili peppers in an abundance of countries, but they fall within the same designation as other so-called "peppers" such as bell pepper, cayenne, jalapeno, etc. because they are all of the same genus Capsicum. They differ, however, from traditional real peppers (black pepper for example) of the Piperaceae family. Capsicum ...
6
The question was:
Why would plants store their energy as carbohydrates and not as fats, if fats are a more efficient energy store?
But before trying to answer it you have to be quite clear what is meant by efficient. Without qualification this term is meaningless. A little reflection will tell you that whatever positive properties are implied by ‘...
6
As user @Tyto alba said, the stream you are telling about, is called plant physiology; so you would need some plant physiology textbook.
For a general account on all aspects of plant physiology, and where the plant metabolisms are specialized than from animal metabolism; a very good book is
Plant physiology by Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zeiger, Sinauer ...
6
I'm in year 5 too; and (with a bit of help of my dad) I have some bits of answers (my challenge of the day).
A paper tissue is principally made of cellulose. And cellulose is a polar molecule. And so is water. So, the paper will easily absorb water.
See these short clips [1] for water polarity and here for cellulose [2].
In plants, xylem vessels are also ...
6
The 'roundish stuffs' you are seeing are called 'pits'. The Dictionary of Botany defines a pit as '[a] cavity in the secondary cell wall, allowing exchange of substances between adjacent cells'. The pit itself is composed from a aperture, named the pit cavity and an environing membrane called the 'pit membrane'. The pit is comparatively analogous to the ...
5
Quantitative descriptions of leaf shape used as diagnostics are hard to come by. There are numerous qualitative descriptions (lyrate, cordate, acicular, etc.), and I think this fits within the example you give that "the laminar shape for this species is mainly ovate." But actual quantitative ranges as you mention (e.g., that the L:W ratio of Acer lies within ...
5
The three main cues for flower opening/closing used by plants are temperature, light and humidity (van Doorn & van Meteren 2003, freely available pdf), with the first two being most common. Plants with daily opening and closing of flowers can be divided into nocturnal (open at night) and diurnal (open at day). There exists several different mechanisms ...
5
PART 1 : Phototropism
The movement of plant shoot towards light is called phototropism. This process is mainly stimulated by the blue light. The photoreceptor involved is called Phot1 (Phototropin 1) or JK244.
Auxins such as IAA (indole acetic acid) are plant hormones, expressed highly in meristem, which cause shoot growth. On illumination this ...
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