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How do meristems help plants heal injured tissues?

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fern life cycle — Plant development The life cycle of the fern. (1) Clusters (sori) of sporangia (spore cases) grow on the undersurface of mature fern leaves. (2) Released from its spore case, the haploid spore is carried to the ground, where it germinates into a tiny, usually heart-shaped, gametophyte (gamete-producing structure), anchored to the ground by rhizoids (rootlike projections). (3) Under moist conditions, mature sperm are released from the antheridia and swim to the egg-producing archegonia that have formed on the gametophyte's lower surface. (4) When fertilization occurs, a zygote forms and develops into an embryo within the archegonium. (5) The embryo eventually grows larger than the gametophyte and becomes a sporophyte.

Meristems play a critical role in plant repair because they consist of regions of cells capable of continuous division and growth. When a plant sustains an injury, meristems can form anew from other cells within the damaged tissue to facilitate wound healing.1

A key part of this process involves the formation of callus tissue, which is a mass of actively dividing cells produced by the plant in response to injury. For example, in grafting, the cambium—a type of lateral meristem—responds to being cut by generating this callus tissue. These cells grow over the injured surfaces, and when the callus tissues from two compatible plant parts interlock, they create a living, continuous connection that heals the wound.2

Unlike many animal tissues that have a limited capacity for regeneration, plants utilize these meristematic regions to maintain growth and repair throughout their entire life span.1