Define Xylem.

the transport tissue in lants that carry water to all parts of the plants from the roots

the tissues in plants that help in transportation of water and nutrients...........

the vascular that transports water and minerals to leaf .

In plants water and salts aby the roots are carried by xylem.

It is the vascular tube that trans ports water and minerals to the plants.

Xylem is the tissue of plants to transport water and nutrients.

IF IT IS RIGHT PLEASE THUMBS UP..........................

Xylem is a kind of vascular tissue which transports water and minerals to the leaves to make photosynthesis.When root gets water and minerals from soil it transports it to stem.Inside stem xylem does the work to transport these raw materials to leaves.

It is a vascular tissue for the transporation of water and nutrients absorbed by the roots in a plant

Structure[edit]

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 cell types: parenchyma and fibers.^[7]

Xylem can be found:

• in vascular bundles, present in non-woody plants and non-woody parts of woody plants
• in secondary xylem, laid down by a meristem called the vascular cambium in woody plants
• as part of a stelar arrangement not divided into bundles, as in many ferns.

In transitional stages of plants with secondary growth, the first two categories are not mutually exclusive, although usually a vascular bundle will contain primary xylem only.

The branching pattern exhibited by xylem follows Murray's law.^[8]

Primary and secondary xylem[edit]

Primary xylem is formed during primary growth from procambium. It includes protoxylem and metaxylem. Metaxylem develops after the protoxylem but before secondary xylem. Metaxylem has wider vessels and tracheids than protoxylem.

Secondary xylem is formed during secondary growth from vascular cambium. Although secondary xylem is also found in members of the gymnosperm groups Gnetophyta and Ginkgophyta and to a lesser extent in members of the Cycadophyta, the two main groups in which secondary xylem can be found are:

1. conifers (Coniferae): there are some six hundred species of conifers. All species have secondary xylem, which is relatively uniform in structure throughout this group. Many conifers become tall trees: the secondary xylem of such trees is used and marketed as softwood.
2. angiosperms (Angiospermae): there are some quarter of a million to four hundred thousand species of angiosperms. Within this group secondary xylem is rare in the monocots.^[9] Many non-monocot angiosperms become trees, and the secondary xylem of these is used and marketed as hardwood.

Main function – upwards water transport[edit]

The xylem, vessels and tracheids of the roots, stems and leaves are interconnected to form a continuous system of water-conducting channels reaching all parts of the plants. The system transports water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant. It is also used to replace water lost during transpiration and photosynthesis. Xylem sap consists mainly of water and inorganic ions, although it can also contain a number of organic chemicals as well. The transport is passive, not powered by energy spent by the tracheary elements themselves, which are dead by maturity and no longer have living contents. Transporting sap upwards becomes more difficult as the height of a plant increases and upwards transport of water by xylem is considered to limit the maximum height of trees.^[10] Three phenomena cause xylem sap to flow:

• Pressure flow hypothesis: Sugars produced in the leaves and other green tissues are kept in the phloem system, creating a solute pressure differential versus the xylem system carrying a far lower load of solutes- water and minerals. The phloem pressure can rise to several MPa,^[11] far higher than atmospheric pressure. Selective inter-connection between these systems allows this high solute concentration in the phloem to draw xylem fluid upwards by negative pressure.
• Transpirational pull: Similarly, the evaporation of water from the surfaces of mesophyll cells to the atmosphere also creates a negative pressure at the top of a plant. This causes millions of minute meniscito form in the mesophyll cell wall. The resulting surface tension causes a negative pressure or tension in the xylem that pulls the water from the roots and soil.
• Root pressure: If the water potential of the root cells is more negative than that of the soil, usually due to high concentrations of solute, water can move by osmosis into the root from the soil. This causes a positive pressure that forces sap up the xylem towards the leaves. In some circumstances, the sap will be forced from the leaf through a hydathode in a phenomenon known as guttation. Root pressure is highest in the morning before the stomata open and allow transpiration to begin. Different plant species can have different root pressures even in a similar environment; examples include up to 145 kPa in Vitis riparia but around zero in Celastrus orbiculatus.^[12]

The primary force that creates the capillary action movement of water upwards in plants is the adhesion between the water and the surface of the xylem conduits.^[13][14] Capillary action provides the force that establishes an equilibrium configuration, balancing gravity. When transpiration removes water at the top, the flow is needed to return to the equilibrium.

Transpirational pull results from the evaporation of water from the surfaces of cells in the leaves. This evaporation causes the surface of the water to recess into the pores of the cell wall. By capillary action, the water forms concave menisci inside the pores. The high surface tension of water pulls the concavity outwards, generating enough force to lift water as high as a hundred meters from ground level to a tree's highest branches.

Transpirational pull requires that the vessels transporting the water be very small in diameter; otherwise, cavitation would break the water column. And as water evaporates from leaves, more is drawn up through the plant to replace it. When the water pressure within the xylem reaches extreme levels due to low water input from the roots (if, for example, the soil is dry), then the gases come out of solution and form a bubble – an embolism forms, which will spread quickly to other adjacent cells, unless bordered pits are present (these have a plug-like structure called a torus, that seals off the opening between adjacent cells and stops the embolism from spreading).