What Is The Main Photosynthetic Structure In Horsetail?

Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) can be a problem in perennial crops, where it is not readily controlled.

How do horsetails photosynthesize?

With horsetails, photosynthesis occurs in the plant’s stem. The stem is hollow and articulated, and several species produce whorled side branches that make the plant look like a small Christmas tree.

Are horsetails photosynthetic?

An herbaceous perennial relative of ferns, common horsetail consists of two types of stems; sterile, non- reproductive and photosynthetic, and reproductive and non- photosynthetic.

Where does photosynthesis occur in horsetail fern?

Leaves and branches come out as whorls from the evenly spaced joints. The needle-shaped leaves do not contribute greatly to photosynthesis, the majority of which takes place in the green stem (Figure). Silica collects in the epidermal cells, contributing to the stiffness of horsetail plants.

What is the structure where silica is found in horsetails?

Results. Silica deposits were observed in all plant regions from the rhizome through to the stem, leaf and spores. Numerous structures were silicified including cell walls, cell plates, plasmodesmata, and guard cells and stomata at varying stages of differentiation.

What are the characteristics of horsetails?

Horsetail has several distinguishing characteristics. One such characteristic is horsetail’s hollow stems (Figures 1 and 3). Its stems also are jointed, can easily be separated into sections, and have siliceous ridges that make it rough to the touch.

What do sori contain?

spores
Sori (singular: sorus) are groups of sporangia (singular: sporangium), which contain spores. Sori are usually found on the underside of the blade. Young sori are commonly covered by flaps of protective tissue called indusia (singular: indusium).

What do horsetails produce?

Field horsetail produces two distinct types of shoots. Fertile shoots are short-lived and produced in the spring. They are whitish to light brown, 6 to 12 inches tall and topped with the spore producing cone. The sterile shoots are produced after the fertile shoots and resemble miniature pine trees.

What kind of leaves do horsetails have?

Fruits/Seeds: Reproduces by spores, which look like a light yellow powder. Leaves: Small and scale-like, often non-green, whorled, and united at the base to form a sheath around the stem.

Are horsetails gametophyte or sporophyte?

sporophyte
Horsetails, like other vascular plants, display an alternation of generations: an asexual phase, represented by a sporophyte (the horsetail plant), and a sexual phase, the gametophyte, an inconspicuous, delicate, green plant.

What type of structure is silica?

Silicon dioxide (often called silica) is the main compound found in sand. It is an example of a substance with a giant covalent structure . It contains many silicon and oxygen atoms. All the atoms in its structure are linked to each other by strong covalent bonds.

What is the function of the strobilus of the horsetail?

the strobilus is borne on a vegetative stem (meaning that there is no specialized brach for reproduction). This is the strobilus of Equisetum telmatiea. Early in reproductive stems can be seen along ditches. The function of these stems is to produce spores.

What are elaters in horsetails?

Equisetum plants (horsetails) reproduce by producing tiny spherical spores that are typically 50 µm in diameter. The spores have four elaters, which are flexible ribbon-like appendages that are initially wrapped around the main spore body and that deploy upon drying or fold back in humid air.

How does a horsetail plant reproduce?

Like ferns, field horsetail does not produce flowers or seeds. This species reproduces by spores and more commonly by creeping rhizomes and tubers. They have two separate stages in their life cycle. The one is the spore producing stage, which includes the vegetative stems.

Do horsetails produce flowers?

Field horsetail does not produce flowers or seeds. For reproduction, it relies heavily on its extensive, creeping root system and to a lesser extent on spore production.

Why do horsetails produce their food in their stems or branches instead of their leaves?

They have a stem made up of joints and nodes, so they are also called Arthrophyta, and their branches exist as whorls. The leaves are needle-shaped, so photosynthesis does not occur within them; rather, photosynthesis takes place within the stems of the horsetails.

Which generation is photosynthetic in horsetails?

sporophyte
The dominant generation of the horsetail life cycle is the sporophyte (described below); gametophytes are bisexual, grow on the soil surface, and are photosynthetic.

Do horsetails produce spores?

Equisetum plants (horsetails) reproduce by producing tiny spherical spores that are typically 50 µm in diameter.

Do horsetails have xylem and phloem?

Horsetail (Equisetum), a type of sphenopsid. The Pteridophytes are the most primitive vascular plants, having a simple reproductive system lacking flowers and seed. Pteridophytes evolved a system of xylem and phloem to transport fluids and thus achieved greater heights than was possible for their avascular ancestors.

Do horsetails have seeds?

Horsetails do not have seeds; they have tiny leaves and roots, vascular tissue and use spores to reproduce.

Do horsetails have Plasmodesmata?

All of the major sites of silicification in horsetail, including cell walls, cell plates, plasmodesmata, epidermal papillae, stomata and pollen mirror callose deposition.