The Plant Vascular System

Plants have a network of tubes of cells that functions as channels for transporting
essential substances. These tubes are known as the plant’s vascular system. This transport system
is in some ways similar to an animal’s circulatory system. Both function as a channel to move
substances in and around parts of the organism and more importantly, it runs the needed
materials to sustain and maintain life for the organism.

However, though they may have the same function, there are major distinctions between
them. For example, plants have no pump like a heart and circulating cells to distribute fluids and
substances. Furthermore, unlike the movement seen in animal blood stream, fluids in plant do
not actually move continuously around it.

The Necessity for Transport of Substances in Plants

The plant vascular system is highly essential as it mainly serve in the transport of water,
mineral ions, and sugars all throughout the plant. To add up the importance of the plant transport
the following are discussed:

1. Absorption. Roots absorb the needed water included in it dissolved minerals and these are
run all throughout the plant.

2. Transport. Vascular vessels aid in the circulation of water to prompt cell metabolism in
plants and transport organic food material from photosynthesis to promote healthy plant
growth and development.

Plant Vascular Vessels

The plant vascular system consists of two types of conducting tissue namely the xylem and the
phloem, each of which is made from cells which have been modified for their special purpose.
Unlike, animal vascular vessels which are easily seen as defined tubes, in plants tissues,
however, are seen as a mass of cells. these vessels extends a continuous “pipe” from the roots,
the stem, and to the leaves. But they have a different distribution patterns in different plant parts.

Xylem
The Xylem is a conducting tissue which carries out the transport of water and minerals to
the upper parts of the plant. The xylem consists of fairly wide tubes with thick walls. These
xylem vessel elements were originally cells which died due to the buildup of a tough substance
called lignin in their cell walls, and then lost their end walls and cytoplasm.

The xylem consists of cells that move up water. There are four major types of cells in the
xylem. First, tracheids are long, tapered ends, thick secondary wall; second, vessel elements are
shorter, ends attached, stacked end-to-end to form a long pipe called a vessel; third, fibers are
long and skinny which thick secondary wall, mostly for support; and lastly, the parenchyma are
alive, thin, store starch and other materials, lateral transport. The primary water transport cells
are tracheids and vessels. Note that gymnosperms (woody-cone beraing plants) only have
tracheids whereas angiosperms (flowering plants) have both. Both tracheids and vessels are dead
at maturity ("suicide" cells) and have pits, thin circular regions, in the walls.  

Phloem

Water and mineral ions are distributed by the xylem, food, primarily sucrose, on the other
hand is transported by the conducting tissue called the Phloem. These tubes carry sucrose and
other "food" such as amino acids produced as a result of photosynthesis.
The direction of this movement can be either upwards or downwards from the leaves.

In plants, the phloem is difficult to study in as compared to the xylem. There are three
possible reasons to elucidate this matter. First, the transport cells/tissue in plants are small or
microscopic in comparison to the transport structures in animals; secondly, there is a very rapid
response of the phloem to wounding because contents are easily tampered under pressure; and
third, transport in plants is intracellular as opposed to animals having extracellular transport.

Similar to the xylem, the phloem consists of a number of specified cells for food
transport. The Sieve tube members or sieve elements are joined end to end to make a sieve
tube. It is seen as a cylindrical tube consisting of elongated living sieve tube cells. At maturity,
these cells: (a) are alive, (b) have a functional plasma membrane and therefore are osmotically
active/responsive; (c) no tonoplast or vacuole; (d) no nucleus, thus no DNA-directed protein
synthesis, (e) few mitochondria or plastids; (f) the ER is primarily beneath plasma membrane
and it is mostly smooth. Sieve elements are joined by sieve plates that have numerous pores. It
allows the flow of dissolved food substances.

Companion cells have a dense cytoplasm, mitochondria, nucleus, golgi, ER, chloroplasts
- the standard goodies. Although their function is not well understood, they can be considered
"nurse cells" to the sieve tube members. These cells are derived from the same cambial initial
cell as the sieve tube members. Some companion cells have inward growths on the wall to
increase the S/V ratio. Thus, they seem important in transferring material into/out of the sieve
cells. Such cells are called transfer cells. Transfer cells are not found in all species.

Parenchyma cells are vacuolated, storage cells. They help in lateral conduction and may
help in transferring material to/from sieve cells. Transfer cells are specialized parenchyma cells.
Fibers are primarily for support.

Absorption: the Beginning of Plant Transport

To begin with, transport cannot happen without the presence of substances that are to be moved.
It is like hiring a relocating crew to transfer your furniture however, you don’t have any single
piece that is needed to be moved. Thus, no action had taken place. This is also significant with
plants. Plants need the essential nutrients to grow

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9322137/Transport-System-in-Plant
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4801010/TRANSPORTATION-IN-PLANTS