Practice question · Multiple choice
A root tip is described as 'a spatial record of a temporal process'. What does this distinction imply about how a plant organ develops over time?
Hints
- Where along the root axis are the most recently divided cells always found?
- Do older cells physically travel towards the tip, or does the tip move away from them?
Show the answer
B. Older cells sit further from the tip than newly divided neighbours
Why
Differentiating cells are physically left behind as the apical meristem drives forward; they do not migrate or continue dividing throughout the organ. Recognising this spatial-temporal mapping explains why cell lineages remain fixed in position along the axis.
Practise Plant Meristems and Covering Tissues
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Biology I is free to start.
More questions on Plant Meristems and Covering Tissues
- Why does a nail driven into a tree trunk stay at the same height for decades?
- Sort each meristem by what it adds to the plant.
- A grass plant is mown, removing the top of every leaf. Set the fraction of its growing capacity that is lost,…
- The waxy cuticle covering a leaf is perforated by stomata.
- Which statements about secondary growth are correct?
- A CAM desert plant is running its daily cycle. Arrange these events in the order they occur, starting at dusk.