The apical meristem is a completely undifferentiated meristematic tissue found in the buds of plants. Its main function is to begin growth in young seedlings at the tips of roots and shoots (forming buds, among other things). Specifically, an active apical meristem lays down a growing root or shoot behind itself, pushing itself forward. Apical meristems are very small, compared to the cylinder-shaped lateral meristems. Apical meristems are composed of several layers. The number of layers varies from plant to plant type. In general the outermost layer is called the tunica while the innermost layers are the corpus. In monocots, the tunica determine the physical characteristics of the leaf edge and margin. In dicots, layer two of the corpus determine the characteristics of the edge of the leaf. The corpus and tunica plays a critical part of the plant physical appearance as all plant cells are formed from the meristems.
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