March is almost over and I've barely been alive and growing long enough to enjoy it. What a shame, eh?
Big news! My first adult leaf has formed! I'm almost all grown up now, ha-ha! But with this new leaf comes a lot more energy... It's going to be the first major power plant in my cell. It will participate better in photosynthesis, and since it's light sensitive it's more likely to pull my towards the light source if need be. This new leaf has major differences in anatomy, including its veins, lamina and petiole. With this leaf I can use xylem and phloem to transport water, minerals and every to my developing stem to fuel my body.
My leaf is defiantly a machine all on it's own! In an analogy from my gardener's world, it's like a factory. It has "stoma" vents to let gasses in and out, with security around the vents to keep anything that should come into the cell out. It also has a layer or “waxy” walls to keep moisture controlled as well as absorb light and package photons, like a wall which doubles as a packaging centre. There are various layers of soft tissues which go though photosynthesis from the packaged photons, diffused water, and CO2 particles. It's like the workers within a factory, each one assembling sugars, water, and oxygen from their original molecular forms. Moisture, food energy, and water are leech into the veins like workers placing them onto a conveyer belt. Then, like the links of the conveyer belt rotating, the substances are transferred from cell to cell in the tissues and the substances are diffused to cells that need them.
Vein: A vascular bundle which provides support for the leaf. Veins use conducting tissues to transport food, water and minerals formed within the leaf and on the rest of the plant to other parts of the plant. This is NOT the same as a vein in an animal.
Lamina: The leaf's blade which contains the tissues used to sustain the leaf and thus the plant. Petiole: The small stalk that attached the leaf to the stem, with similar anatomy to the stem.
Xylem: The water-conducting (and thus transferring) tissues within a plant.
Phloem: The food-conducting (and thus transferring) tissues within a plant.
Lamina: The leaf's blade which contains the tissues used to sustain the leaf and thus the plant. Petiole: The small stalk that attached the leaf to the stem, with similar anatomy to the stem.
Xylem: The water-conducting (and thus transferring) tissues within a plant.
Phloem: The food-conducting (and thus transferring) tissues within a plant.
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