Perspective

The primary vascular system extends throughout the root system, the stem and its lateral branches, and appendages of the stem such as leaves, flowers, and fruits. The basic pattern of the primary vascular system is established initially by the arrangement of provascular tissue in the embryo. As development of the young plant proceeds, the provascular tissue becomes restricted to the shoot apex and to the root tip proximal to the root cap. Differentiation in the provascular tissue leads to the development of mature, functional primary xylem and primary phloem (Fig. 6.1). In primitive plants with central columns of primary vascular tissue (protosteles) (many pteridophytes as well as the roots of most plants), phloem surrounds the xylem (Fig. 6.1a). In those with tubular vascular systems (siphonosteles) this is usually also true, but in some taxa phloem may bound the xylem on the interior as well as on the exterior (Fig. 6.1b). In seed plants in which the primary vascular systems consist of discrete, or relatively discrete, vascular bundles (eusteles) (Fig. 6.1c, d), the spatial relationship of primary xylem and primary phloem varies according to the bundle type, i.e., whether collateral, bicollateral, amphicribral, or amphivasal. In collateral bundles, the primary xylem comprises the part of the bundle toward the inside of the stem and the primary phloem comprises the outer part (Figs 6.1, 6.2, 6.4) whereas in bicollateral bundles phloem occurs both to the inside and to the outside of the primary xylem.