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
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
xy•lem
(zī′ləm, -lem),USA pronunciation n. [Bot.]
- Botanya compound tissue in vascular plants that helps provide support and that conducts water and nutrients upward from the roots, consisting of tracheids, vessels, parenchyma cells, and woody fibers.
- German, equivalent. to Greek xýl(on) wood + -ēma (see phloem)
- 1870–75
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'xylem' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
bicollateral
- cambium
- cytokinin
- endarch
- eustele
- exarch
- heartwood
- mesarch
- metaxylem
- primary xylem
- protostele
- protoxylem
- secondary xylem
- stele
- tracheid
- vascular bundle
- vascular ray
- vascular tissue
- vessel
- wood
- wood ray
- xylem ray