ABSTRACT
One of the features that distinguishes plants from animals is that almost all plant cells undergo considerable enlargement after their production by mitosis; in many cases, cells can enlarge to over 100-fold greater volume than the original cell. The final size and shape of a plant are determined by the extent of this cell enlargement process. For example, if the cells in the stem of a redwood tree were restricted to the length of meristematic cells, the height of a tree with the same number of cells as a 300-foot redwood would be less than 2.5 feet!
