Secondary cell wall
plant cell wall that is no longer able to expand and so does not permit growth. Secondary cell walls contain less pectin than that of primary cell walls. The secondary cell is mostly composed of cellulose and is strengthened with lignin
The secondary cell wall is a structure found in many plant cells, located between the primary cell wall and the plasma membrane. The cell starts producing the secondary cell wall after the primary cell wall is complete and the cell has stopped expanding. It is most prevalent in the Ground tissue found in vascular plants, with collenchyma having little to no lignin, and sclerenchyma having lignified secondary cell walls.
Structure and function
Secondary cell walls provide additional protection to cells and rigidity and strength to the larger plant. These walls are constructed of layered sheaths of cellulose microfibrils, wherein the fibers are in parallel within each layer. The inclusion of lignin makes the secondary cell wall less flexible and less permeable to water than the primary cell wall. In addition to making the walls more resistant to degradation, the hydrophobic nature of lignin within these tissues is essential for containing water within the vascular tissues that carry it throughout the plant.
The secondary cell wall consists primarily of cellulose, along with other polysaccharides, lignin, and glycoprotein. It sometimes consists of three distinct layers - S1, S2 and S3 - where the direction of the cellulose microfibrils differs between the layers. The direction of the microfibrils is called microfibril angle (MFA).
The public source identifies “Secondary cell wall” as plant cell wall that is no longer able to expand and so does not permit growth. Secondary cell walls contain less pectin than that of primary cell walls. The secondary cell is mostly composed of cellulose and is strengthened with lignin. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Secondary, cell and wall.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8004621. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Secondary cell wall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.