Plant transport

The 2 transporting tissues that you need to be aware of in plants are the xylem and the phloem.  The xylem transports water and minerals from the soil to the leaves, while the phloem transports the products of photosynthesis (mostly sugars) from the leaves of the plants (the site of photosynthesis) to the areas where it is needed (roots for respiration) and shoots for new growth.



Transpiration is a one way flow of materials.  It starts at the roots and ends at the leaves.  Apart from supplying the leaves with water minerals that are combined with other products of photosynthesis to make amino acids etc.  Excess water is lost through the stomates located on the underside of leaves. There is a balancing act between photosynthesis and conserving water in times of drought.  This will be discussed more in the HSC course.  One of the ways that roots obtain water is by actively transporting dissolve ions into the roots.  Assuming that the water concentration of the soil is higher than the roots, water will move into the root by osmosis.

In the case of transporting water, plants use the energy of the sun to assist them.  Because no energy is expended by the plant it is considered to be a  

The phloem is the transporting tissue for the products of photosynthesis.  The process is called translocation.  As previously stated, sugars are transported from areas of excess to area's of shortage