Plant vascular tissue

• Roots


  • Branch out for anchorage
  • Where plants absorb water + nutrients
  • Roots branch out more and grow specialized "root hair" structures to maximize surface area for osmosis to occur
• Stomata


  • Specialised holes in the surface of leaves that is the site for water evaporation (transpiration) and gas exchange (CO2 in, O2 out)
  • It is a pore that is surrounded by two guard cells that open and close
  • Water is not collects at the stomata (water plants at the roots, not the leaves)
• Vascular plant systems


  • Xylem: water transport
  • Phloem: nutrient transport
• Transpiration


  • The process of using water's adhesion to the surface of a tube to draw up water
  • This process is known as capillary action
  • As water is lost through stomata, it pulls water upwards via capillary action through xylem from the roots
  • The pulling of water upwards helps drive absorption from soils through roots
• Translocation: transport of nutrients

  1. Glucose produced in leaves via photosynthesis are pumped into companion cells where they diffuse into sieve cells of phloem

  2. Increased glucose concentration in sieve cells (hypotonic) cause water to diffuse from neighbouring xylem, increasing pressure (turgor)

  3. Increased pressure pushes sugar solution around plant where it diffuses into sinks (target cells) through active transport

  4. Once glucose decrease, phloem becomes hypertonic, and water diffuses back into xylem
• Xylem and Phloem run side by side in a bundle called the vascular bundle
• What are the two types of plant vascular tissue?

  Xylem & Phloem
• What substances do xylem transport?

  Water
• What substances do phloem transport?

  Nutrients (glucose/sugars)
• How does xylem transport water around the plant?

  Transpiration
• How does phloem transport nutrients around the plant?

  Translocation
• What direction does substances flow through xylem?

  Root to leaf, One direction
• What direction does substances flow through phloem?

  Multidirectional
• What types of cells & important features are found in xylem?


  Xylem tissues include hollow, lignified cells, and pits for horizontal movement
• What types of cells & important features are found in phloem?

  Phloem are made of non-lignified cells, contain hollow sieve cells, and also have companion cells for metabolism