Secondary Growth Anatomy

Botany professor Dr. Joyce Onyenedum walks us through secondary growth of the shoot. We'll be building the thick trunks and branches that give plants their impressive size and structural support — let’s peel back the bark to explore how plants expand laterally and bulk up over time. Topics covered: 00:00 What is secondary growth? 01:04 Review: primary vs. secondary growth 01:15 Lateral meristems: vascular cambium and phellogen 01:32 Secondary growth via the vascular cambium 02:23 Secondary xylem (wood): structure and function 02:44 Secondary phloem (inner bark): transport and defense 03:02 Secondary growth via the phellogen 03:14 Periderm and bark anatomy 04:08 Applications: dendrochronology and climate reconstruction 05:12 Cambial variants: intraxylary phloem 05:59 Cambial variants: successive cambia 06:28 Recap