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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]
Between the xylem and phloem is a meristem called the vascular cambium. This tissue divides off cells that will become additional xylem and phloem. This growth increases the girth of the plant, rather than its length. As long as the vascular cambium continues to produce new cells, the plant will continue to grow more stout.
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 ...
The xylem consists of vessels in flowering plants and of tracheids in other vascular plants. Xylem cells are dead, hard-walled hollow cells arranged to form files of tubes that function in water transport. A tracheid cell wall usually contains the polymer lignin. [citation needed]
Mosses are examples of non-vascular plants. Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water. [citation needed] Non-vascular plants include two distantly related groups:
A vascular bundle is a part of the transport system in vascular plants. The transport itself happens in the stem, which exists in two forms: xylem and phloem. Both these tissues are present in a vascular bundle, which in addition will include supporting and protective tissues. There is also a tissue between xylem and phloem, which is the cambium.
Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants.It is an organic material – a natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression.
Cavitation is when the plant cannot supply its xylem with adequate water so instead of being filled with water the xylem begins to be filled with water vapor. These particles of water vapor come together and form blockages within the xylem of the plant. This prevents the plant from being able to transport water throughout its vascular system. [16]