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pith |
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pith, in botany, core of the stem stem, supporting structure of a plant, serving also to conduct and to store food materials. The stems of herbaceous and of woody plants differ: those of herbaceous plants are usually green and pliant and are covered by a thin epidermis instead of by the bark of woody ..... Click the link for more information. of most plants. Pith is composed of large, loosely packed food-storage cells. As the stem grows older the pith usually dries out, and in some it disintegrates and the stem becomes hollow. In trees the pith becomes much reduced as the woody tissue (xylem) grows. In East Asia, rice paper is made from the pith of some shrubs. Candlewicks are made of the pith of certain rushes. pith 1. the soft fibrous tissue lining the inside of the rind in fruits such as the orange and grapefruit 2. Botany the central core of unspecialized cells surrounded by conducting tissue in stems 3. the soft central part of a bone, feather, etc. pith [pith] (botany) A central zone of parenchymatous tissue that occurs in most vascular plants and is surrounded by vascular tissue. Pith The central zone of tissue of an axis in which the vascular tissue is arranged as a hollow cylinder. Pith is present in most stems and in some roots. Stems without pith rarely occur in angiosperms but are characteristic of psilopsids, lycopsids, Sphenophyllum, and some ferns. Roots of some ferns, many monocotyledons, and some dicotyledons include a pith, although most roots have xylem tissue in the center. Pith is composed usually of parenchyma cells often arranged in longitudinal files. This arrangement results from predominantly transverse division of pith mother cells near the apical meristem. See Parenchyma, Root (botany), Stem How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| From a heterogeneous collection of loot, Achmet Zek procured a pith helmet and a European saddle, and from his black slaves and followers a party of porters, askaris and tent boys to make up a modest safari for a big game hunter. In those days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs. The more business he got, the greater his power seemed to grow of getting at its pith and marrow; and however late at night he sat carousing with Sydney Carton, he always had his points at his fingers' ends in the morning. |
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