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How does the root cap protect a growing tree root?

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Tall giant sequoia trees with reddish bark and thick trunks rise closely together in a dense forest at Sequoia National Park, California. — tree A stand of giant sequoia trees (*Sequoiadendron giganteum*) in Sequoia National Park, California.

The root cap is a thimble-shaped structure composed of living parenchyma cells that covers the apical meristem at the tip of a growing root.123

It protects the delicate, actively dividing cells of the root apex as the root pushes through the abrasive environment of the soil. As the root moves forward, the outer cells of the root cap are continuously damaged and sloughed off. To maintain this protective barrier, new cells are constantly added to the root cap by a specialized internal layer of meristematic cells known as the calyptrogen.1234