The Structure of Dicot Roots The primary dicot root consists of a number of rings of specialised tissue surro unding

a central cylinder of vascular (transporting) tissue. The root must accom plish four major tasks in most plants. Most importantly, it must absorb water an d mineral nutrients from the environment. It must also be able to move these sub stances to other parts of the plant which do not have direct access to them. In most plants, the roots must anchor the rest of the plant in the soil, and provid e enough support to resist wind, gravity, etc. Many roots also serve as the prim ary area for storing excess energy as starch in plants.

The micrograph above shows a typical dicot root. On the outside is a thin epider mis (visible in the upper left), which must be permeable to water, at least whil e the root is very young (only the newly matured tips of growing roots absorb wa ter). Between the epidermis and the central cylinder is a layer of large, loosely pac ked storage cells called the cortex. In plants like turnips and carrots, which s tore large amounts of starch, the cortex is huge. In plants like cactus, which m ust absorb water very quickly when it becomes available, the cortex is very thin . In this plant, the cortex takes up about 80% of the diameter of the root, and dark grains of starch are clearly visible inside the cells. The spaces between the cortex cells allow water to diffuse through the root muc h faster than it would through a solid tissue.

The micrograph below shows more detail of the central cylinder

Surrounding the vascular cylinder is a layer of cells whose side and end walls a re cemented together like bricks in a wall. Some of these cells appear to have t hicker, pinkish walls in the micrograph. The waxy substance between the cells (c alled the Casparian strip) prevents water from diffusing into or out of the cent ral cylinder except through the membranes of these cells. This layer, called the endodermis, allows the plant to screen what is coming in from the environment, and to regulate the flow of sugars from the phloem to the storage cells in the c ortex. If the endodermis were too permeable, sugars would diffuse rapidly into t he outer layers of the root, and would leak into the surrounding soils. Since ma king sugars is the plant's main task, this would be very wasteful. Immediately inside the endodermis is a layer of unspecialised meristematic cell s called the pericycle. Cells of the pericycle can begin to divide and push out through the endodermis and cortex, forming a secondary, or branching, root. The secondary root will repeat the structure of the primary root, so it too can bran ch. Repeated branching gives the root system both enough surface area to absorb sufficient water, and a complex network of supports for anchoring the rest of th e plant. The centre of the vascular cylinder is occupied by a star-shaped region of xyle

m (called the stele). The large, thick-walled vessels of the xylem are hollow, a nd act as the main water transport system to the rest of the plant. Large quanti ties of water and dissolved minerals can be moved upward through the xylem with very little expenditure of energy. In the gaps between the arms of xylem are smaller bundles of phloem tissue. Phl oem consists of live cells that carry dissolved sugars around the plant. Sugars are made in the leaves by photosynthesis, but they are required by all other liv ing cells of the plant as an energy source. The cells of the phloem regulate how much sugar is moved to and released in any part of the plant. In most plants, e xcess sugar is moved to the roots and stored in the cortex, where it is comparat ively safe from predators. Between the xylem and phloem, and usually hard to see, is a layer of very small meristematic cells called the vascular cambium. These cells can divide to produ ce new xylem and phloem, thickening and strengthening the root and increasing it s capacity to transport materials.