vascular tissue

n. The conductive and supportive tissue in vascular plants, consisting of xylem and phloem.

vascular tissue

n (Botany) tissue of higher plants consisting mainly of xylem and phloem and occurring as a continuous system throughout the plant: it conducts water, mineral salts, and synthesized food substances and provides mechanical support. Also called: conducting tissue

vas′cular tis`sue

n. plant tissue consisting of ducts or vessels that in the higher plants forms the system (vas′cular sys`tem) by which sap is conveyed through the plant. [1805–15]

Thesaurus

Noun

vascular tissue - tissue that conducts water and nutrients through the plant body in higher plantsvascular system - the vessels and tissue that carry or circulate fluids such as blood or lymph or sap through the body of an animal or planttracheophyte, vascular plant - green plant having a vascular system: ferns, gymnosperms, angiospermsplant tissue - the tissue of a plantstele - the usually cylindrical central vascular portion of the axis of a vascular plantcambium - a formative one-cell layer of tissue between xylem and phloem in most vascular plants that is responsible for secondary growthfibrovascular bundle, vascular bundle, vascular strand - a unit strand of the vascular system in stems and leaves of higher plants consisting essentially of xylem and phloemmedullary ray, vascular ray - a sheet of vascular tissue separating the vascular bundlesxylem - the woody part of plants: the supporting and water-conducting tissue, consisting primarily of tracheids and vesselstracheid - long tubular cell peculiar to xylemphloem, bast - (botany) tissue that conducts synthesized food substances (e.g., from leaves) to parts where needed; consists primarily of sieve tubessieve tube - tube formed by cells joined end-to-end through which nutrients flow in flowering plants and brown algae

Vascular Tissue

vascular tissue

[′vas·kyə·lər ′tish·ü] (botany) The conducting tissue found in higher plants, consisting principally of xylem and phloem.

Vascular Tissue

in plants, a tissue that conducts water and mineral substances absorbed from the soil, as well as the products of photosynthesis and other metabolites. Vascular tissues consist of variously shaped elongate cells (prosenchyma cells). They are distributed in masses or bundles in a complex with mechanical and parenchyma tissues.

Arising from procambium and cambium, vascular tissues form an integral system that connects all organs of the plant. The tissues include xylem (primary and secondary) and phloem (primary and secondary). The principal vascular elements of xylem are tracheids (elongate cells distributed in strands and connected through bordered pits) and vessels (long tubules consisting of a large number of separate cells, the transverse walls between which disappear, thus forming perforations). The principal vascular elements of the phloem—sieve cells (elongate living cells placed one over the other) and sieve tubes—are united by strands of cytoplasm that pass through numerous perforations in the transverse walls of their membranes. The principal substances that move through the xylem are water and minerals; predominantly organic matter moves through the phloem. However, in the spring before the buds open, for example, organic matter stored in the previous year may move through the wood.

Highly differentiated vascular tissues are present only in vascular plants. Mosses and lower plants have no such tissues. Primary specialized vascular cells in the form of tracheids with annular and spiral thickenings of the membranes have been discovered in the earliest terrestrial flora, that is, the psilo-phytes. In the process of evolution, plants developed tracheids with scalene thickenings, uniformly thickened membranes, and numerous bordered pits. The most perfect vascular elements— the vessels—arose in the process of evolution in some ferns and gymnosperms, but they attained the greatest complexity in an-giospermous plants.

I. S. MIKHAILOVSKAIA

vascular tissue

noun

Words related to vascular tissue

noun tissue that conducts water and nutrients through the plant body in higher plants

Related Words

vascular system
tracheophyte
vascular plant
plant tissue
stele
cambium
fibrovascular bundle
vascular bundle
vascular strand
medullary ray
vascular ray
xylem
tracheid
phloem
bast
sieve tube