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The most distinctive xylem cells are the long tracheary elements that transport water. Tracheids and vessel elements are distinguished by their shape; vessel elements are shorter, and are connected together into long tubes that are called vessels. [6] Xylem also contains two other type of cells: parenchyma and fibers. [7] Xylem can be found:
Parenchyma cells have a variety of functions: In leaves, they form two layers of mesophyll cells immediately beneath the epidermis of the leaf, that are responsible for photosynthesis and the exchange of gases. [2] These layers are called the palisade parenchyma and spongy mesophyll. Palisade parenchyma cells can be either cuboidal or elongated.
Xylem fibers or Xylem sclerenchyma; Xylem parenchyma; Cross section of 2-year-old Tilia americana, highlighting xylem ray shape and orientation. Xylem tissue is organised in a tube-like fashion along the main axes of stems and roots. It consists of a combination of parenchyma cells, fibers, vessels, tracheids, and ray cells.
Most of these cells transform into xylem and phloem. But certain cells don't transform into xylem and phloem and remain as such. [clarification needed] These cells cut out by the cambium towards the periphery are phloem parenchyma while those towards the pith are xylem parenchyma. Both of these cells together work as secondary medullary rays.
The cells are often attached to each other and also to their nearby epithelial cells mainly by gap junctions and hemidesmosomes. There is much variation in the types of cell in the parenchyma according to the species and anatomical regions. Its possible functions may include skeletal support, nutrient storage, movement, and many others. [15]
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 pit aperture is the opening at either end of the pit chamber. The pit membrane is the primary cell wall and middle lamella, or the membrane between adjacent cell walls, at the middle of the pit chamber. [2] The primary cell wall at the pit membrane may also have depressions similar to the pit depressions of the secondary layers.
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.