how does a tree get water?

“Water is often the most limiting factor to plant growth 🙌 Therefore, plants have developed an effective system to absorb, translocate, store and utilize water 👍 To understand water transport in plants, one first needs to understand the plants’ plumbing. Plants contain a vast network of conduits, which consists of xylem and phloem tissues. This pathway of water and nutrient transport can be compared with the vascular system that transports blood throughout the human body. Like the vascular system in people, the xylem and phloem tissues extend throughout the plant. These conducting tissues start in the roots and transect up through the trunks of trees, branching off into the branches and then branching even further into every leaf. (last emended 25 days ago by Shauntina Calvert from Liege, Belgium)

Myranda Bowles at czo-archive.criticalzone.org, describes how maintaining moisture is a daily challenge for plants that live on land. Unlike animals, plants do not have the capability to run to the nearest stream or lake for rehydration. Desert plants are specifically adapted to withstand harsh conditions to stay wet. For example, the Welwitschia mirabilis is a true survivor of the desert and has been a constant resident in the Namib Desert for millions of years (Henschel and Seely, 2000). This “ugly” plant has evolved to live on less than 6 inches (15 cm) of rain and tolerate weeks at temperatures > 100 °f (> 35 °C) in a nearly dormant state. Welwitschia and other desert plants share a common desert strategy: shut down to prevent drying and wait for rain. And when it does rain, desert plants use their shallow root systems to absorb as much water as possible. But not all plants are adapted to drought conditions. Without a constant supply of water, many plants, such as trees, could be forced to shed their leaves, especially during hot, dry weather. That brings us to the question of interest: Where do trees get their water?

Todayifoundout.com goes on to mention that as a pocket of air within a xylem vessel will stop the water flow (and sometimes spread rapidly throughout the xylem making the problem much worse), once enough bubbles are formed, the tree can no longer transport sufficient water throughout its body and it dies. (These types of air pockets are also why you should always put freshly cut flowers into water as quickly as possible in order to stop air from being drawn up, which in turn will stop the flower from later being able to suck up water; thus, the shelf life of your flowers in a vase diminishes significantly.) (we truly appreciate Lorielle Dow for their revisions).