Water Movement In Plants

Due to the passive nature of water movement in plants, water has a very specific path that it must take through the plant. Water starts in the soil, where the roots absorb it into the system of the plant. From the roots, water travels through the root cortex and the root endodermis. Once it passes through these structures, the water finall enters the xylem, which acts as a long tube that runs directly through the plant. Transpiration in the leaves helps to pull water through the xylem up the stem. This is where the water reaches the leaf mesophyll, at which point it evaporates and exchanges out of the leaf through the stomata. This evaporation helps to pull more water up into the leaf.