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Cork cambium
 
 
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Cork cambium is a tissue
Biological tissue

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. Hence, a tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function....
 found in many vascular plants as part of the periderm. The cork cambium is a lateral meristem and is responsible for secondary growth that replaces the epidermis
Epidermis (botany)

The epidermis is a single-layered group of cells that covers plants leaf, flowers, roots and Plant stem. It forms a boundary between the plant and the external world....
 in roots and stems. It is found in woody and many herbaceous dicots, gymnosperm
Gymnosperm

Gymnosperm is a group of spermatophyte seed-bearing plants with ovules on scales, which are usually arranged in cone-like structures. The other major group of seed-bearing plants, the angiosperms, [from the Greek, 'angion' - container] have ovules enclosed in a carpel, a sporophyll with fused margins....
s and some monocots, which usually lack secondary growth.

Cork cambium is one of the plant's meristem
Meristem

A meristem is the biological tissue in all plants consisting of undifferentiated cells and found in zones of the plant where growth can take place....
s - the series of tissues consisting of embryonic (incompletely differentiated) cells from which the plant grows.






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Cork cambium is a tissue
Biological tissue

Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. Hence, a tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function....
 found in many vascular plants as part of the periderm. The cork cambium is a lateral meristem and is responsible for secondary growth that replaces the epidermis
Epidermis (botany)

The epidermis is a single-layered group of cells that covers plants leaf, flowers, roots and Plant stem. It forms a boundary between the plant and the external world....
 in roots and stems. It is found in woody and many herbaceous dicots, gymnosperm
Gymnosperm

Gymnosperm is a group of spermatophyte seed-bearing plants with ovules on scales, which are usually arranged in cone-like structures. The other major group of seed-bearing plants, the angiosperms, [from the Greek, 'angion' - container] have ovules enclosed in a carpel, a sporophyll with fused margins....
s and some monocots, which usually lack secondary growth.

Cork cambium is one of the plant's meristem
Meristem

A meristem is the biological tissue in all plants consisting of undifferentiated cells and found in zones of the plant where growth can take place....
s - the series of tissues consisting of embryonic (incompletely differentiated) cells from which the plant grows. It is one of the many layers of bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
, between the cork and primary phloem
Phloem

In vascular plants, phloem is the living Biological tissue that carries organic nutrients , particularly sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed....
. The function of cork cambium is to produce the cork, a tough protective material.

Synonyms for cork cambium are bark cambium, pericambium or phellogen. Phellogen is defined as the meristematic cell layer responsible for the development of the periderm. Cells that grow inwards from the phellogen are termed phelloderm, and cells that develops outwards are termed phellem or cork (note similarity with vascular cambium). The periderm thus consists of three different layers:
  • phelloderm,
  • phellogen (cork cambium) and
  • phellem.


Growth and development of cork cambium is very variable between different species, and also highly dependent on age, growth conditions etc. as can be observed from the different surfaces of bark; smooth, fissured, tesselated, scaly, flaking off, etc.

Economic importance

  • Commercial cork
    Cork (material)

    Cork material is a prime-subset of generic Cork cambium, harvested for commercial use primarily from the Cork Oak tree, Quercus suber, with Portugal producing 50% of cork worldwide....
     is derived from the bark of the cork oak
    Cork Oak

    The Cork Oak is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section List of Quercus species#Section Cerris. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa....
     (Quercus suber). Cork has many uses including wine bottle stoppers, bulletin boards, coasters, hot pads to protect tables from hot pans, insulation, sealing for lids, flooring, gaskets for engines, fishing bobbers, handles for fishing rods and tennis rackets, etc. It is also a high strength-to-weight/cost ablative material for aerodynamic prototypes in wind tunnels, as well as satellite launch vehicle payload fairings, reentry surfaces, and compression joints in thrust-vectored solid rocket motor nozzles.
  • Many types of bark are used as mulch
    Mulch

    In agriculture and gardening, is a protective cover placed over the soil, primarily to modify the effects of the local climate. A wide variety of nature and Synthetic fiber materials are used....
    .

See also

  • Meristem
    Meristem

    A meristem is the biological tissue in all plants consisting of undifferentiated cells and found in zones of the plant where growth can take place....
  • Cork (material)
    Cork (material)

    Cork material is a prime-subset of generic Cork cambium, harvested for commercial use primarily from the Cork Oak tree, Quercus suber, with Portugal producing 50% of cork worldwide....
  • Vascular cambium
    Vascular cambium

    The vascular cambium is a lateral meristem in the vascular tissue of plants. The vascular cambium is the source of both the secondary xylem and the secondary phloem , and is located between these tissues in the stem and root....