Lenticel facts for kids

The dark horizontal lines on Silver birch bark are the lenticels.

Bark of a pine tree in Tecpán, Guatemala. Here, the lenticels are in the cracks of the bark.

A lenticel is porous tissue in the bark of trees. Its cells make large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the bark. They are found in the woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants.

Lenticels are also found in other woody plants, starting in the Carboniferous period. The development and increase in these primitive lenticels gave a system for aeration and gas exchange in these plants.

Lenticels work as pores for the direct exchange of gases. Otherwise the bark is impermeable to gases. The name 'lenticel' comes from its lenticular (lens-like) shape. The shape of lenticels is one of the characteristics used for tree identification.

Images for kids

• 

  Lenticels on apples

• 

  Lenticels on Prunus serrula

• 

  Lenticels on wild cherry or gean

• 

  Alder bark (Alnus glutinosa) with characteristic lenticels and abnormal lenticels on callused areas

• 

  Lenticels on potatoes of the Monalisa variety

• 

  Lenticels on Williams pear varieties

See also

In Spanish: Lenticela para niños