OlympIQ
Read before you practise · 6 min

Read Cambium, Wood and Bark

Lateral meristems add secondary tissues and produce wood, bark and seasonal growth rings.

NSEB · Anatomy of Flowering Plants · 6 linked questions · 100% coverage
Know this first

Living-system questions are solved by matching a structure or organism to its function, process and stated condition.

Structure · The part being namedFunction · What that part doesCondition · The situation that changes the answer
Study deeper: NCERT Biology · Anatomy of Flowering Plants

Track the cambia

Vascular cambium adds secondary xylem inward and secondary phloem outward. Cork cambium (phellogen) produces phellem outward and phelloderm inward; the periderm replaces the outer epidermis.

Read the wood

Sapwood is functional younger xylem that conducts water; heartwood is older and often darker. Primary xylem remains innermost as secondary xylem accumulates outward. Earlywood and latewood together make annual rings; clear seasonal differences produce more distinct rings. Bark includes living and non-living tissues.

OlympIQ exam lens

  • ✓Vascular cambium: secondary xylem in, phloem out.
  • ✓Phellogen: phellem outward, phelloderm inward.
  • ✓Sapwood conducts; primary xylem remains central.
  • ✓Annual rings reflect seasonal growth.
OlympIQ trap

An annual ring is one year of secondary xylem, not a mixture of heartwood and sapwood.

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