Hawaiian
Ethnobotany-Anatomy-17 
Hawaiian
Ethnobotany-Anatomy-17 
Primary Growth
Herbs
(like makaloa) are plants with soft bodies. 
They stop
growing after a defined time period. They rarely grow
beyond a few feet in height. Herbs have Primary Growth. All of their cells can be traced back to the growing points of
their stems and roots. These growing points are called Apical
Meristems ( Apical = Tip; Meri = Divide ).
Apical Meristems contain dividing cells which form the Primary Plant Body. They can potentially produce unlimited growth in length but only add a finite amount to the width of stems or roots.
The best analogy I can make is to an old-fashioned spy glass. Each section has a finite length. The narrowest section is the apical meristem. The widest section is the mature part of the primary stem. All sections beyond this would have the same diameter.
 |
 |
| Some plants have a large Apical Cell which functions as the Apical Meristem & is the source of all the other cells. | |
 |
 The Apical Meristems of Flowering Plants contain many cells. The entire plant body can be traced to them, however. |
| The same processes occur in Roots! | |
Secondary Growth increases the width of Stems and Roots. This provides a firm foundation for extensive aerial growth that is typical for trees like koa.
