Unit 8: Transport in plants

● Epidermis:
➔ Has a single layer of cells that helps to keep the shape of the steam and cuts down
the loss of water vapor.
➔ Stomata in the epidermis allow the tissues inside to take up oxygen and get rid of
carbon dioxide.
➔ Is replaced by bark (Corteza), which consists of many layers of dead cells.

● Vascular bundles:
➔ Is the center of the root
➔ Made up of groups of specialized cells that conduct water, dissolved salts and food
up or down the steam.
➔ The vascular bundles connect up to form a transport system throughout the entire
plant
➔ It has two main tissues: Xylem and Phloem: That together form a vascular bundle
Note: The vascular bundle has a supporting function as well as a transport function,
Why? Because they contain vessels, fibres and other thick-walled, lignified,
elongated cells.

● Phloem
➔ Brings food substances from the stem to the root, to provide energy and growth.
➔ Is in the inside
➔ Contains the supporting cells in the sieve tubes

● Xylem
➔ Carries water and salts from the root to the steam.
➔ Is in the outside.
➔ Also contains many elongated, lignified supporting cells called fibers

Note: The cells in each tissue (Xylem and phloem) form elongated tubes called
vessels (In the xylem) while in the phloem are called sieve tubes and they are
surrounded and supported by other cells.

● Vessels:
➔ A vessel is made up of a series of new cells joined end to end
➔ When a region of the plant stops growing, the end walls of these cells are digested
away to form a continuous fine tube.
➔ Cell walls are thickened and impregnated with a substance called lignin: Which
makes the cell wall very strong and impermeable.
Since these lignified cell walls prevent the free passage of water and
nutrients, the cytoplasm dies.

● Sieve tubes:
➔ The conducting cells in the phloem remain alive and form sieve tubes.
➔ Perforations appear in the end walls, allowing substances to pass from cell to cell,
but they (cell walls) are not lignified and the cell contents do not die, although they
lose the nuclei. The perforated end walls are called sieve plates.
● Cortex:
➔ The tissue between the vascular bundle and the epidermis is called cortex.
➔ Often store starch
➔ In green streams, the outer cortex cells contain chloroplast and make food by
photosynthesis.

● Pith
➔ Is the central tissue in the steam
Note: The cells of the pith and cortex act as packing tissues and help to support the
steam.

● Outer layer.
➔ At the root tip are several layers of cells forming the root cap.
➔ Cells are continually replaced as fast as they are worn away when the root tip is
pushed through the soil.

● Root hairs:
➔ Are the cells of the outer layer producing tiny, tube-like, outgrowths.
➔ Are above the root tip, where the root has stopped growing.
➔ Are seen as white flurry layer on the roots of seedlings grown in moist air.
➔ While in the soil, the root hairs grow between the soil particles and stick closely to
them
➔ Take up water by osmosis and absorb minerals by active transport.
➔ Remain alive for only a short time.

● Pathway taken by water

➔ The water tension is developed in the vessels by a rapidly transpiring plant.
➔ Water enters the root hair cells and then is passed on to cells in the root cortex.
➔ It enters the xylem vessels to be transported up the steam and into the leaves,
arriving at the leaf mesophyll cells.

● Transpiration:
➔ Main force that draws water from the soil and through the plant
➔ Water evaporates from the leaves and causes a kind of “Suction” which pulls water
up the steam.
➔ The flow of water is called the transpiration stream.