[Biology Class Notes] on Sap – Plant Physiology Pdf for Exam

Consider that you want to go on a vacation to someplace far away from you. How would you travel to that place? You would obviously use a mode of transport. A mode of transport is very necessary, the same stands true even with respect to our body. In the human body, blood is responsible for carrying out all the transport. The transport of energy, the transport of oxygen, hormones, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and humanly waste. Similarly, even the plants we see around us need a system of transport. The Sap Plant Physiology is the transport system in plants. It is responsible for carrying around all the nutrients and water in the plant. Today, let us take a deeper look and understand more about the transport system of plants: Sap Plant Physiology. 

The Sap System

As iterated earlier, the sap system or often simply referred to as sap is a fluid transport system in the plant. It consists of xylem tubes of phloem cells. The xylem and the phloem together form something called the vascular bundle. This vascular bundle plays a major role in contributing to the formation of the transport system in plants. The vascular bundle runs right from the top of the plant or tree to the bottom. The xylem tubes are responsible for the transportation of water and inorganic nutrients in a plant. On the other hand, the phloem cell’s duty is to transport sugary fluids and other biological molecules. Remember that the latex and resins aren’t a part of the sap system of the plant. They are produced separately in the plant body and have distinguished functions.

What is the Phloem Sap Made Out of?

The plant sap consists of two components, the phloem sap, and the xylem sap. The phloem sap primarily consists of water, the plant manufactured sugar, several other biological molecules, and essential minerals. The sap system mainly transports energy through the plant. It traverses through every part of the plant and provides every part with the amount of energy required. On the other hand, xylem sap mainly consists of water, plant hormones, minerals, and nutrients which exist in a diluted form in water.

The Phloem

The phloem is a major constituent of the plant sap system. The phloem of a plant is responsible for the carriage of energy to each part of the plant’s body. Therefore, the phloem must run from the energy house of the plants to the other parts. We know that the leaves are the energy house of the plants. Therefore, the phloem of the plant needs to run from the leaves to all the other parts of the plants. This is because like our human body even each cell in the plant body requires energy to function normally. Each part of the plant cannot produce its own energy and hence the energy is transported to each part from the leaves. Hence, we can conclude that the phloem runs from the leaves to the other parts of the body! 

The Xylem

The Xylem is a watery tissue that is responsible for the transportation of minerals and essential nutrients. The plant has roots in the soil. The soil is filled with nutrients. These nutrients are generally minerals such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and several other essential nutrients and vitamins. These minerals are essential for the production of energy in the body of the plant. As we’ve seen earlier, roots are responsible for absorbing minerals from the soil. Therefore, the xylem runs from the roots of the leaves of the plants. The xylem cells are actually dead cells; these dead cells are called vessels. They make a continuous, capillary passage for the xylem constituents. The xylem transports these nutrients to the leaves to help the leaves to produce the required amount of energy in the plant! 

Differences Between Xylem and Phloem