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The basic function of the xylem is to transport water upward from the roots to parts of the plants such as stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. [1] [2] The word xylem is derived from the Ancient Greek word, ξύλον (xylon), meaning "wood"; the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout a plant. [3]
It is used mainly for the transport of water, along with some small nutrients. The meristem of the stem creates cells which make up the cambium and pro-cambium. These cells then produce a highly branched poly-phenolic protein, called lignin, in a very high concentration. The cells then perform apoptosis, and the actual xylem tube begins to form ...
The presence of vessels in xylem has been considered to be one of the key innovations that led to the success of the flowering plants. It was once thought that vessel elements were an evolutionary innovation of flowering plants, but their absence from some basal angiosperms and their presence in some members of the Gnetales suggest that this hypothesis must be re-examined; vessel elements in ...
It is a type of conductive cell called a tracheary element. Angiosperms also use another type of conductive cell, called vessel elements, to transport water through the xylem. The main functions of tracheid cells are to transport water and inorganic salts, and to provide structural support for trees.
With much of the sucrose having been removed, the water exits the phloem by osmosis or is drawn by transpiration into nearby xylem vessels, lowering the turgor pressure within the phloem. [4] The sucrose concentration in sieve tubes is typically 10–30% in the leaves but only 0.5% in the photosynthesis cells.
The cells in vascular tissue are typically long and slender. Since the xylem and phloem function in the conduction of water, minerals, and nutrients throughout the plant, it is not surprising that their form should be similar to pipes. The individual cells of phloem are connected end-to-end, just as the sections of a pipe might be.
The cells of the vascular cambium (F) divide to form phloem on the outside, located beneath the bundle cap (E), and xylem (D) on the inside. Most of the vascular cambium is here in vascular bundles (ovals of phloem and xylem together) but it is starting to join these up as at point F between the bundles.
Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it extends only into roots. [1] The pith is encircled by a ring of xylem; the xylem, in turn, is encircled by a ring of phloem.