Sclerenchyma

MAIN FEATURES

• Sclereids
• Fibres
• Fibers

Functions

• Important supporting tissue in plants
• Responsible for hardness of date seeds and the shell of wallnuts
• Maybe plays a role in the transport of water in the plant
• Starch granules stored in young, living fibres

HOW THE SHAPE HELPS ITS JOB

• Sclereids have a irregular shape which the cell walls are thick, hard and lignified makes lumen very small
• Fibers have a needle shape with pointy tips, cell walls are thick and rather small lumen, secondary cell walls

WHAT ORGAN IS THE CELL FOUND IN

• The cell wall
• The stems
• The roots
• Almost anywhere in the plant

WHAT ORGAN SYSTEM IS THE CELL FOUND IN

• The shoot system and the root system

INTERESTING FACTS

• Is important for providing support for plant parts
• Mature sclerenchyma cells are dead
• Some of sclerenchyma are found in humans but not the full cell