Question

What is the xylem water tension?

Answer 1

The respiration of water at the top of the plant creates negative pressure on the water contained within the xylem (woody tissue). This negative pressures draws the water column up through the xylem due to water tension, creating flow.

Answer 2

Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants. (Phloem is the other). The word xylem is derived from the Classical Greek word ξυλον (xylon), meaning "wood"; the best-known xylem tissue is wood, though it is found throughout the plant. Its basic function is to transport water, but it also transports some nutrients through the plant.