Lesson 7 of 10 · 6 min
Monocot stem
NCERT §6.2.4, Figure 6.4
Meera's maize stem section looks like someone spilled dots across a plate. There is no ring, no clear cortex and no neat pith, just bundles everywhere.
The lesson in notes
In short
Hypodermis is made of sclerenchyma, not collenchyma as in the dicot stem.
Vascular bundles are many and scattered through the ground tissue instead of forming a ring.
Each bundle is wrapped in a sclerenchymatous bundle sheath.
Bundles are conjoint and closed: there is no cambium.
Bundles near the edge are generally smaller than those near the centre.
Phloem parenchyma is absent, and the bundles contain water-containing cavities.
The bundles sit in a large, conspicuous ground tissue of parenchyma that fills the stem.
Identification key: scattered, conjoint, closed bundles with sclerenchyma sheaths and no phloem parenchyma mean a monocot stem.