Water mainly enters a plant through tiny root hairs growing on the root. Water and other dissolved minerals then move from the root tissues to the vascular cylinder. Plants have two main types of vascular tissue that transport water, called xylem and phloem. Xylem is the vascular tissue that transports water and minerals from roots to leaves. Phloem can transport water both upward and downward. (Solomon e

Water potential is a measure of water pressure. Water potential when compared between the root and the soil, the water potential in the root is lower. That means that the higher water pressure in the soil causes the water to flow into the roots. The cells in the leaf have a very high water potential. With the sun shining down on the leaves causing evaporation, there develops a tremendous pressure differential. Evaporation causes extremely low water potential in the cells themselves. This pulls replacement water in from other cells and the effect spreads all the way down to the roots. This is an explanation of the pressure-flow theory or bulk flow; the pressure gradient is lowest in the roots and the greatest in the leaves. (Solomon et al 2002).

In addition, most plant species utilize the soil with the help of helpful microorganisms called mycorrhizal fungi. The roots form mutually advantageous relationships with these fungi that permit the transport of certain nutrients from fungi to root. There are delicate threads attached to roots of plants that make up the fungus branch in the soil. The fungi gets nutrients from decomposing matter of many typem. The nutrients are then passed ba

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, Cohesion-Tension Theory, Osmosis Osmosis, Wind Solomon, water potential, et al 2002, solomon et al, al 2002, et al, solomon et, water molecules, plants trees, roots leaves, 2002 water, water cells, al 2002 water, water molecules polar, cells replace water, root pressure,