[Home]
[Up]

Fig. 6.2-1. Longitudinal section of a shoot tip of coleus (Coleus). Based on position, there are two types of meristem in this micrograph: a shoot apical meristem and an axillary meristem. However, meristems are also classified according to the types of tissues they produce. Look at the band of reddish cells that runs up and turns to the left just below the axillary meristem. The band consists of the long, narrow cells of a meristem called a procambium, and as they continue to divide, some of their progeny cells will develop into vascular tissues -- xylem and phloem.

Most of the right side of the micrograph consists of just uniform parenchyma produced by cell divisions that occur below the shoot apical meristem: that region is called a ground meristem because it produces a ground tissue, a tissue that is relatively extensive and uniform.