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A tree grows taller every year, yet a nail hammered into its trunk never rises. Grass grows back after mowing, but a cut shoot tip does not regrow. Each of these follows from where a plant keeps its dividing cells. This post sets out the three kinds of meristem by location and job, shows where NCERT now teaches them, and works two examples you can reason through.
Where are meristems in the syllabus now?
This is worth checking, because the books have moved.
Class 9. The new NCERT book Exploration, Chapter 3 Tissues in Action, has separate sections on apical, lateral and intercalary meristems. The CBSE Class IX science syllabus for 2026-27 lists "Meristematic tissues (types and function of each)".
Class 11. The current Anatomy of Flowering Plants chapter (2026-27 reprint) begins with tissue systems. The old section on tissue types has gone, though the chapter summary still says tissues are "meristematic (apical, lateral and intercalary) and permanent". Meristems now appear in Plant Growth and Development, which covers root and shoot apical meristems and names vascular cambium and cork cambium as lateral meristems.
NEET. The NEET (UG) 2026 syllabus lists "Tissues" under structural organisation in plants.
So a NEET student should learn the Class 9 types and the Class 11 growth chapter together. Check the syllabus for your exam year.
Where does each meristem lie, and what does it do?
Apical meristem. At the tips of roots and shoots. Makes the plant longer. NCERT Class 11 says the root and shoot apical meristems are responsible for primary growth, mainly elongation along the plant's axis.
Lateral meristem. In a ring along the circumference of the stem. Makes the stem thicker. NCERT Class 11 names vascular cambium and cork cambium, which appear later in life in dicotyledonous plants and gymnosperms and cause secondary growth. The annual rings in a cut trunk record this growth.
Intercalary meristem. The Class 9 book places it at the base of the internode or just above the node, and links it to grasses growing back after being mowed or grazed.
All meristem cells look alike: small, with thin walls, a large nucleus and dense cytoplasm. The Class 9 book adds that vacuoles are generally absent and the cells are tightly packed.
How do cells leave a meristem?
NCERT Class 11 uses three words. Cells from apical meristems and cambium differentiate into specialised tissue. Some differentiated cells can dedifferentiate and divide again: interfascicular cambium and cork cambium form this way from parenchyma. Their products then redifferentiate. This explains why part of the lateral meristem in a dicot stem is new, not left over from the seedling.
Worked example 1: the nail in the tree
These are sample numbers. A nail is driven into a young tree 1.5 m above the ground. Over ten years the tree grows from 6 m to 14 m tall. How high is the nail now?
Still 1.5 m. Lengthening happens only near the shoot tip, where the apical meristem divides and the cells just behind it elongate. The trunk at 1.5 m has no apical meristem; only the lateral meristem works there, so the trunk gets thicker and may grow around the nail head, but it does not get longer.
Worked example 2: marking a root
NCERT Class 11 describes detecting growth zones by the parallel line technique: mark a root tip with evenly spaced lines and see which gaps widen. Here are sample results. A root is marked in six gaps of 1 mm each, numbered from the tip. After a day the gaps measure 1.3, 2.9, 3.2, 2.1, 1.0 and 1.0 mm.
Total growth: the gaps add to 11.5 mm, against 6 mm at the start, so the root grew 5.5 mm.
Gap 1, at the very tip, barely changed. Its cells are dividing, but each new cell is still small: this is the meristematic zone.
Gaps 2 to 4 widened most. This is the elongation zone, where NCERT says cells show increased vacuolation, cell enlargement and new wall deposition.
Gaps 5 and 6 did not change: the maturation zone, where cells reach their final form.
The dividing cells are prolific. NCERT notes that a single maize root apical meristem can give rise to more than 17,500 new cells per hour, which is over 420,000 a day.
Which mistakes cost marks?
Saying the lateral meristem is only cork cambium. NCERT names vascular cambium and cork cambium.
Giving secondary growth to every plant. NCERT links lateral meristems to dicotyledonous plants and gymnosperms.
Putting the elongation zone at the very tip. The tip is meristematic; most lengthening happens just behind it.
Saying meristem cells have large vacuoles. Vacuoles are generally absent.
Missing the syllabus move. If you study only the Class 11 anatomy chapter, you will not find the meristem types section.
A practice routine
Drawing suits a topic about location. In Drawing to Learn in Science (2011), Ainsworth, Prain and Tytler argue that drawing should be recognised as a key element of science education.
Draw a whole plant from memory and mark the three meristems, with one line on what each grows.
Redo worked example 2 with your own sample gap lengths and name each zone.
Write the three Class 11 terms, differentiation, dedifferentiation and redifferentiation, each with NCERT's example.
Two days later, repeat step 1 without looking at your first drawing.
If terms such as cambium or elongation zone are still hazy, the Fermi Concept Library covers every concept in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computing, so you can look each one up on its own. For permanent tissues, read our guide to tissues in Class 9, and for sections of roots and stems, see anatomy of flowering plants.
Next time you pass a mowed lawn, name the meristem that will make it green again by next week.
