Plants transport water and minerals from roots to leave through xylem vessels.Phloem transports prepared food from leaves to all other parts.
Have you ever wondered how plants eat and drink? Or you thought they don’t feed on anything? How does anything transport in plants? How do they survive? Yes, plants also drink and eat just like you do! Interested in knowing how? Read the chapter below!
Transportation In Plants
Transport in plants – plants are the type of organisms that have an autotrophic mode of nutrition. By taking in carbon dioxide from the air, minerals, and water from the soil, plants make their own food. After that, they release oxygen and water vapor. This process is Photosynthesis.
By this process, plants synthesize their food in the leaves. For trees, leaves are considered to be food factories. For the process of photosynthesis, raw materials should be transported to the leaves. For transport in plants, they need a transport system to move food, water, and minerals around because for them no heart, no blood, and since these plants do not have a circulatory system, transportation makes up for it.
Why is Transportation An Essential Process?
To circulate water, essential nutrients, excretory products and gases within the plants for various purposes, transportation in plants is necessary. In vascular tissues, this transportation in plant takes place. By a suction force, water and minerals are transported to various parts of the plant.
Vascular tissues are normally conducting tissues. Formation of these tissues can be done by xylem and phloem of a plant. Without the use of pump how water moves up the plant against gravity in tubes made of dead xylem cells can be explained by only transportation process.
The Process of Transportation
In plants, there are pipe-like vessels through which water and minerals can enter the plants. These vessels are made up of elongated cells and thick walls. A group of cells forms a tissue which performs a specialized function within the organisms. These are conducting tissues. These conducting tissues are divided into two types which are xylem and phloem.
Xylem: It is a vascular tissue that spreads from the top to bottom of the plant. For the transport of water molecules, it helps a lot. It also plays a vital role in case of dissolved substances from the root hairs to aerial parts of the plant. It transfers water in one direction. Commonly, xylem occupies the central part of the vascular bundle. It mainly includes different types of cells such as tracheid, vessels, and xylem parenchyma and xylem fibres.
Phloem: It is also a vascular tissue. In a plant where the necessity of food molecules is there, by the use of phloem transportation process will take place. Some elements are there in the phloem such as sieve elements, phloem parenchyma, fibres and companion cells.
The transportation process in this tissue is bidirectional. In association with xylem, it forms vascular bundles. The edges of vascular bundles are occupied by phloem.