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
Word origin
C19: from Greek xulon wood
xylem in American English
(ˈzaɪləm; ˈzaɪlɛm)
noun
the woody vascular tissue of a plant, characterized by the presence of vessels or tracheids or both, fibers, and parenchyma, that conducts water and mineral salts in the stems, roots, and leaves and gives support to the softer tissues
Word origin
Ger < Gr xylon, wood
Examples of 'xylem' in a sentence
xylem
Thus xylem is commercially important as a source of wood and fibres.
McCahill, T. A. Biology Basic Facts (1982)
Each year a new ring of xylem is added called the annual ring.
McCahill, T. A. Biology Basic Facts (1982)
Xylem tissue consists of long continuous tubes formed from columns of cells in which the horizontal cross walls have disintegrated and the cell contents have died