Leaf Primordia Overview
In embryology, a primordial (singular: primordium) are tissues or organs that are in their earliest recognizable stage of development. The primordium cells are referred as the primordial cells. It can also be considered as the meekest set of early conditions that are capable of triggering growth. Leaf primordia are found within the meristem that resembles the knobby outgrowths and the ribbed inverted cones.
In leaves, the so-called leaf primordial is primarily the young leaves that have formed recently at the tip of the shoot, which was formed by the shoot apical meristems.
The shoot apical meristem, SAM, found at the tip of the plant has two primary roles which are:
- Serves as the source of new formed cells that are need for the growth of stem;
- Is the place for the small cellular outgrowths that develops into leaves, known as leaf primordia.
The plant leaf primordia occur in positions that are predictable enough, with the site of the following primordium. The ordered arrangement of leaf primordial around the shoot apical meristem is called as phyllotaxy.