plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s, a gland is defined functionally as a plant structure which secretes one or more products. This may be located on or near the plant surface and secrete externally, or be internal to the plant and secrete into a canal or reservoir. Examples include glandular hairs,

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

ies, hydathodes, and the resin canals in

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

Notable examples

Salt glands of the mangrove

The salt glands of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s such as '' Acanthus'', '' Aegiceras'', '' Aegialitis'' and ''

Avicennia ''Avicennia'' is a genus of flowering plants currently placed in the bear's breeches family, Acanthaceae. It contains mangrove trees, which occur in the intertidal zones of estuarine areas and are characterized by its "pencil roots", which ar ...

'' are a distinctive multicellular

trichome Trichomes (; ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

, a glandular hair found on the upper leaf surface and much more densely in the abaxial indumentum. On the upper leaf surface they are sunken in shallow pits, and on the lower surface they occur scattered among long nonglandular hairs composed of three or four cells. Development of the glands resembles that of the nonglandular hairs until the three-celled stage, when the short middle stalk cell appears. The salt gland continues to develop to produce two to four vacuolated cells at the level of the epidermis, the stalk cell with an almost completely cutinized wall, and at least eight terminal cells. The terminal cells have a thin, perforated cuticle which separates from the cell walls apically, leaving an enclosed cavity between them. The secreted salt evaporates and forms visible crystals.

Cannabinoid-secreting glands of Cannabis

Cannabis plants are broadly covered with sessile glands, and other hairs throughout above-ground portions of the plant. There is a particularly high concentration of glands on the

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s of the female plant. After flower formation begins, some of the glands, especially on bracts near the flowers, develop stalks projecting them outward from the plant surface. The glands consist of a layer of disk cells, whose outer surface splits to create a large secretory cavity lined by cell wall and cuticle components. Together the disk cells and secretory cavity form a round head atop the narrow stalk. These cavities come to contain large amounts of

cannabidiol Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid, one of 113 identified cannabinoids in ''Cannabis'', along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and accounts for up to 40% of the plant's extract. Medically, it is an anticonvulsant used to treat multiple f ...

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

-producing strains, or tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol in other

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

plants. These compounds appear to be produced beginning in specialized plastids called lipoplasts. These produce spheres of oily secretions, including

terpene Terpenes () are a class of natural products consisting of compounds with the formula (C5H8)n for n ≥ 2. Terpenes are major biosynthetic building blocks. Comprising more than 30,000 compounds, these unsaturated hydrocarbons are produced predomi ...

s, which pass through the cell membrane and wall to accumulate as vesicles in the secretory cavity. Final reaction to cannabinoids appears to occur outside the disk cell cytoplasm. The glands gradually darken as they mature, with loss of cannabinoids over time (perhaps to evaporation) and eventually undergo abscission from the plant.

Myrmecophytes

Glands are used by myrmecophyte plants to feed their ant symbiotes.{{Citation needed, date=April 2024

References

Plant anatomy