Slide 9: is of another type of surface tissue, the outer bark or periderm (stained red in this slide). Periderm is found on the surface of woody plants; it includes the cork cells on the surface of older woody stems. The periderm replaces the epidermis in plants that have secondary growth. The cork cells are dead; it is their waterproofed cell walls that function as the protective outer covering of plants. Meristematic cells within the periderm (cork cambium, the other lateral meristem) produce the cork cells.