Chapter : 4. Excretion
Mechanism of Excretion in Plants
Mechanism of Excretion in Plants:
Plants do not have any mechanism to collect, transport and throw out their waste products. They have adopted varied strategies to protect their living cell from waste products.
(i) Old Leaves. Waste products are stored in older leaves which soon fall off.
(ii) Old Xylem. Resins, gums, tannins and other waste products are deposited in the old xyem which soon becomes nonfunctional e.g. Hard wood.
(iii) Bark. Bark consists of dead cells which is peeled off periodically. Tannins and other wastes are deposited in the bark. Incidentally, tannins are raw material for dyes and inks.
(iv) Central Vacuole. Most plant waste products are stored in central vacuole of their cells. They are unable to influence the working of cytoplasm due to presence of a selectively permeable membrane called tonoplast.
(v) Root Excretion. Some waste substances are actually excreted by the plants in the region of their roots.
(vi) Detoxification. The toxi oxalic acid is detoxified by formation of calcium oxalate which gets crystallized into needles (raphides), prism (prismatic crystals), stars (sphaeraphides) and crystal sand. Excess of calcium is also precipitated as calcium carbonate crystals, e.g. cystolith.
(vii) Salt Glands. They excrete excess salts obtained from the habitat.
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