Lesson 1
Strands of skinny young cells
Just behind a growing plant tip, there are strands of long, skinny, young cells. They are called procambium (say it: pro-KAM-bee-um).
Procambium cells are alive, with thin walls. They line up in strands that run along the young stem, root, or leaf, like threads in a rope.
Try thisPress Cut it open on the 3D model to see the strands inside the young shoot.
Lesson 2
Becoming the plant's pipes
As the tip grows, procambium cells turn into the plant's first pipes:
- Xylem, the water pipes, usually on the inner side of each strand.
- Phloem, the sugar pipes, usually on the outer side.
In many plants, some procambium cells stay young. They later become a thin growing layer that lets stems get thicker.
Try thisPress Become pipes to see water pipes (blue) and sugar pipes (orange) form.
Wow!The veins you can see in a leaf started out as procambium strands when the leaf was tiny!