Question

difference between Meristem and parenchyma of class 9

Answer 1

Meristem is a type of tissue system in plants, composed of a mass of undifferentiated cells and their primary function is to take part in the growth of plants. Permanent tissues are differentiated tissues doing specific functions such as conduction, providing mechanical support or carrying out photosynthesis etc. Permanent tissues are originated and differentiated from meristematic tissues. In this post we will discuss about the similarities and differences between two fundamentally different tissue systems namely Meristematic tissues and Permanent tissues.



Parenchyma:

These are isodiametric and thin-walled. The cells may be oval, circular or polygonal with intercellular space. They are living. These tissues are present in all organs of the plants.

Functions:

1. These tissues are mainly concerned in storage of food.

2. In fleshy stem, they act as water storage tissues.

3. In hydrophytes large air cavities are formed in-between these tissues. These types of tissues are called aerenchyma.

4. In leaf, these tissues contain chloroplasts and help in photosynthesis and are called collenchyma.

5. Sometimes these tissues become meristamic and form cork cambium and cambium in root. Thus, they help in secondary growth.