xylem

American  

[zahy-luhm, -lem] / ˈzaɪ ləm, -lɛm /

noun

Botany.

1. a compound tissue in vascular plants that helps provide support and that conducts water and nutrients upward from the roots, consisting of tracheids, vessels, parenchyma cells, and woody fibers.

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xylem British  

/ ˈzaɪləm, -lɛm /

noun

1. a plant tissue that conducts water and mineral salts from the roots to all other parts, provides mechanical support, and forms the wood of trees and shrubs. It is of two types (protoxylem and metaxylem), both of which are made up mainly of vessels and tracheids See also protoxylem metaxylem

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xylem Scientific  

/ zī′ləm /

1. A tissue in vascular plants that carries water and dissolved minerals from the roots and provides support for softer tissues. Xylem consists of several different types of cells: fibers for support, parenchyma for storage, and tracheary elements for the transport of water. The tracheary elements are arranged as long tubes through which columns of water are raised. In a tree trunk, the innermost part of the wood is dead but structurally strong xylem, while the outer part consists of living xylem, and beyond it, layers of cambium and phloem.

2. See more at cambium capillary action Compare phloem

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xylem Cultural  

1. The system of vessels that transports water in a plant. (See phloem.)

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Etymology

Origin of xylem

1870–75; < German, equivalent to Greek xýl ( on ) wood + -ēma ( phloem )

Compare meaning

How does xylem compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• xylem vs. phloem

Example Sentences

Cicadas are strange in that they feed on the tree’s xylem, which carry water and some nutrients.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 1, 2024

The remnants of the xylem and phloem — tubules that transport water, sugars and nutrients throughout living leaves — somehow become a root.

From New York Times • Feb. 25, 2024

Most sap-sucking insects drill into a nutrient-dense plant tissue called phloem, but spittlebugs specialize in the much more dilute sap from another tissue, xylem.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 6, 2023

More research is needed, but the scientists suspect it's due to the bugs' preference for sap from the xylem, which is the main water-carrying structure of the plant.

From Science Daily • Oct. 4, 2023

All of its internal life exists within three paper-thin layers of tissue—the phloem, xylem, and cambium—just beneath the bark, which together form a moist sleeve around the dead heartwood.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson