Difference between revisions of "Plectenchyma"

'''plectenchyma''' (''no plural'') – a [[false tissue]] formed by more or less tightly interwoven filaments (''cf.'' [[hyphae]], [[trichal]], [[siphonal]]). In a complex thallus the plectenchyma typically forms into several distinct layers, each layer assuming different functions, more or less analogous to the various functions of true tissues. Unlike [[parenchyma]], no true meristematic growth is known from [[plectenchyma]]. Instead, the filaments in a plectenchyma grow separately and divide only apically, with the apical cell not capable of organized isodiametrical division (''cf.'' [[hyphal tip growth]]). Plectenchyma are characteristic for [[thalli]], [[stromata]] and [[fruiting bodies]] of [[Fungi]]. Fungal plectenchyma may become very complex and almost appear like true tissues ([[parenchyma]]) of vascular plants; ''cf.'' [[paraplectenchyma]]). They also occur in many other organisms that frequently form complex thalli, e. g., the Red Algae ([[Rodophyta]]).