As for all animals, your body is made of four types of tissue: epidermal, muscle, nerve, and connective tissues. Plants, too, are built of tissues, but not surprisingly, their very different lifestyles derive from different kinds of tissues. All three types of plant cells are found in most plant tissues.

Dermal tissue covers the outside of a plant in a single layer of cells called the epidermis. You can think of the epidermis as the plant’s skin. It mediates most of the interactions between a plant and its environment. Epidermal cells secrete a waxy substance called cuticle, which coats, waterproofs, and protects the above-ground parts of plants. Cuticle helps prevent water loss, abrasions, infections, and damage from toxins.

Epidermis - the exchange of matter between the plant and the environment.

a) the epidermis on above ground organs (leaves and stems) is involved with gas exchange

b) the epidermis on below ground organs (roots) is involved with water and ion uptake

Ground tissue makes up much of the interior of a plant and carries out basic metabolic functions. Ground tissue in stems provides support and may store food or water. Ground tissues in roots may also store food.

Ground tissues - metabolism, storage, and support activities

a) the ground tissue of the leaf (called mesophyll) uses the energy in sunlight to synthesize sugars in a process known as photosynthesis

b) the ground tissue of the stem (called pith and cortex) develops support cells to hold the young plant upright

c) the ground tissue of the root (also called cortex) often stores energy- rich carbohydrates.

Vascular tissue runs through the ground tissue inside a plant. Your body was able to grow from a single cell to perhaps 100 trillion cells because, 21 days after fertilization, a tiny heart began to pump blood throughout your tiny self – and it hasn’t stopped since. The blood it pumps carries water, oxygen and nutrients to each one of your trillions of cells, and removes CO2 and other wastes. Of course plants don’t have hearts, but they do have vessels that transport water, minerals, and nutrients through the plant. These vessels are the vascular tissue, and consist of xylem and phloem. Xylem and phloem are packaged together in bundles, as shown in figure below.

Vascular tissues - the transport of water and dissolved substances inside the plant

a) the xylem carries water and dissolved ions from the roots to stems and leaves

b) the phloem carries dissolved sugars from the leaves to all other parts of the plant