Water transport in plants

Water transport in plants

• Water enters a plant through its root hair cells, by osmosis. Once this water is absorbed, it has o get through the cortex, including the endodermis, before it can reach the xylem.
• Water can take various routes through the root. 
• The symplast pathway- water goes through living parts of the cells (cytoplasm, connected through the plasmodesmata).
• The apoplast pathway- water goes through the non living parts of the root (cell walls). The walls are absorbant and water simply diffuses through the cell walls as well as passing through the spaces between them.
• When water in apoplast pathway gets to the endodermis cells though, the path is blocked by a waxy ***** called the casparian *****, the water then has to take the symplastic pathway.
• This is useful because it means that the water has…