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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 ]
Stained Xylem Vessel in Red/Orange (x400 magnification) In secondary xylem – the xylem that is produced as a stem thickens rather than when it first appears – a vessel element originates from the vascular cambium. A long cell, oriented along the axis of the stem, called a "fusiform initial", divides along its length forming new vessel elements.
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 ascent of sap in the xylem tissue of plants is the upward movement of water and minerals from the root to the aerial parts of the plant. The conducting cells in xylem are typically non-living and include, in various groups of plants, vessel members and tracheids.
It is a type of conductive cell called a tracheary element. Angiosperms 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.
Root pressure is the transverse osmotic pressure within the cells of a root system that causes sap to rise through a plant stem to the leaves. [ 1 ] Root pressure occurs in the xylem of some vascular plants when the soil moisture level is high either at night or when transpiration is low during the daytime.
Plant cells differentiate into multiple cell types, forming tissues such as the vascular tissue with specialized xylem and phloem of leaf veins and stems, and organs with different physiological functions such as roots to absorb water and minerals, stems for support and to transport water and synthesized molecules, leaves for photosynthesis ...
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. The phloem, on the other hand, consists of living cells called sieve-tube members ...