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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]
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.
Xylem is the water-conducting tissue, and the secondary xylem provides the raw material for the forest products industry. [26] Xylem and phloem tissues each play a part in the conduction processes within plants. Sugars are conveyed throughout the plant in the phloem; water and other nutrients pass through the xylem.
In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Ancient Greek word φλοιός (phloiós), meaning "bark". [3] [4] The term was introduced by Carl Nägeli in 1858. [5] [6] Different types of phloem can be distinguished. The early phloem formed in the growth apices is called protophloem.
Inside the phloem is a layer of undifferentiated cells one cell thick called the vascular cambium layer. The cells are continually dividing, creating phloem cells on the outside and wood cells known as xylem on the inside. [67] The newly created xylem is the sapwood. It is composed of water-conducting cells and associated cells which are often ...
The phloem and xylem are parallel to each other, but the transport of materials is usually in opposite directions. Within the leaf these vascular systems branch (ramify) to form veins which supply as much of the leaf as possible, ensuring that cells carrying out photosynthesis are close to the transportation system.
English: xylem (blue) carries water from the roots upwards phloem (orange) carries products of photosynthesis from the place of their origin (source) to organs where they are needed (roots, storage organs, flowers, fruits – sink); note that e.g. the storage organs may be source and leaves may be sink at the beginning of the growing season
The fascicular and interfascicular cambia thus join up to form a ring (in three dimensions, a tube) which separates the primary xylem and primary phloem, the cambium ring. The vascular cambium produces secondary xylem on the inside of the ring, and secondary phloem on the outside, pushing the primary xylem and phloem apart.