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 ( see phloem)

Compare meaning

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

• xylem vs. phloem

Explanation

Xylem is the part of a plant that conveys water from the roots to the leaves and stems, transporting various nutrients along with it. Xylem is composed of hollow, tube-like tissue, almost like tiny pipes that carry water and minerals to every part of a plant. Together with phloem, which transports the sugar made during photosynthesis, xylem helps keep plants healthy and growing. In woody plants, including trees, the xylem tissue dies off as the plant grows, becoming the "wood" of its trunk or stem. The word xlyem, originally coined in German, comes from the Greek xylon, "wood."

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

First, cicadas eat xylem sap, and most xylem feeders only pee in droplets because it uses less energy to excrete the sap.

From Science Daily • Mar. 11, 2024

Cicadas drink 300 times their body weight in xylem, a nutrient-poor plant sap, each day.

From New York Times • Mar. 11, 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

And lifting water is just one of the many jobs that the phloem, xylem, and cambium perform.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson