Differences Between Vascular Cambium and Cork Cambium

Although the vascular cambium and cork cambium are both secondary lateral meristems that appear during a stem or root's secondary growth, they differ in almost every respect - their origin, the kind of cells that make them up, and what they produce. The vascular cambium (also simply called 'cambium') arises from the procambium and interfascicular parenchyma in stems, and from conjunctive parenchyma in roots; it is composed of two structurally distinct cell types, long fusiform initials and short ray initials; and it produces secondary phloem toward the outer side and secondary xylem toward the inner side. The cork cambium (also called phellogen) arises more variably - from the epidermis, cortex, phloem or pericycle, in both stems and roots; it is composed of a single homogeneous cell type rather than two; and it produces ph …