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Prickles on a blackberry branch. In plant morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles, and in general spinose structures (sometimes called spinose teeth or spinose apical processes), are hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, stems, or buds with sharp, stiff ends, and generally serve the same function: physically defending plants against herbivory.
In many cases, spines are a defense mechanism that help protect the animal against potential predators. Because spines are sharp, they can puncture skin and inflict pain and damage which may cause the predator to avoid that species from that point on. The spine of some animals are capable of injecting venom. In the case of some large species of ...
Odontopleurida is an order of very spinose trilobites closely related to the trilobites of the order Lichida. [1] Some experts group the Odontopleurid families, Odontopleuridae and Damesellidae, within Lichida. Odontopleurids tend to have convex, bar-shaped cephalons, and lobed, knob-shaped glabella that extend to, or almost to the anterior margin.
The glabellar furrows (when not effaced) typically have a splayed arrangement. In most species, the hind pair on either side of the cephalon become spines that point sharply backwards, and the spinose tips of the anterior pairs of thoracic segments tend to become more and more forward directed toward the pygidium. The eyes are typically large.
Spinous cells, or prickle cells, are keratin producing epidermal cells owing their prickly appearance to their numerous intracellular connections. They make up the stratum spinosum (prickly layer) of the epidermis and provide a continuous net-like layer of protection for underlying tissue.
The problem I see with "Spinose structures of plants" is that it seems to connect too strongly with "spine" – Stearn's Botanical Latin gives spinosus, spinose, as an adjective meaning "spiny". Some sources use "spine", "spiny", etc. very generally, but others (e.g. Beentje 2010) don't.
Quills grow in varying lengths and colours, depending on the animal's age and species. Porcupines' quills, or spines, take on various forms, depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, [16] and embedded in the skin musculature. Old World porcupines have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New ...
The stratum spinosum (or spinous layer/prickle cell layer) [1] is a layer of the epidermis found between the stratum granulosum and stratum basale. [2] This layer is composed of polyhedral keratinocytes. [3] [4] These are joined with desmosomes. [3]