THE ANATOMY OF A TREE Sacramento Tree （树的解剖学萨克拉门托树）.pdf

Tree Anatomy THE ANATOMY OF A TREE The major parts of a tree are leaves, flowers and fruit, trunk and branches, and roots. LEAVES Leaves are basically sheets (or sticks) of spongy living cells connected by tubular conducting cells to the plumbing system of the tree. They are connected to the air around them by openings called stomates, and protected from dehydration by external wax layers. They frequently have hairs, bristles, scales, and other modifications that help adapt them to their environment. TRUNK AND BRANCHES While branches and trunks may seem to be just made of wood, this material (and the bark around it) consists of many types of cells adapted for strength, resistance to injury and decay, transport of liquids, and storage of starch and other materials. The bark consists mostly of two zones: The inner bark or phloem actively contributes to the trees life processes: its tubular cells form the plumbing system through which sugar and growth regulators, dissolved in water, are distributed to other parts of the tree from the leaves and buds where they are made. The outer bark consists of layers of inner bark cells that have died and cracked as they have been pushed outward by the trees growth; outer bark forms the trees first line of defense against damage by insects, people, heat and cold, and other enemies. A tree normally has three meristematic zones -- that is, cells that can divide and reproduce themselves. Two of these, the root tips and the buds at the tips of twigs, allow the tree to grow lengthwise. The third, located between the bark and the wood, is the vascular cambium zone, often referred to merely as the cambium. Its cells divide inward and outward, laying down new wood cells on those already in place and new inner bark cells inside those already existing. The cambium is one important key to trees success. Its growth from the outside outward allows the tree to cover over minor wounds and (as we will