EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Phloem is right below the surface bark and carries sugars from the leaves down to the rest of the tree. Further in is more ‘plumbing’ called the xylem or sapwood. These tubes carry water and minerals the opposite way, up to the leaves. Sandwiched between these two layers is the cambium.

Detailed explanation-2: -Xylem tissue conducts water up the tree from the roots to the crown and is also known as sapwood and heartwood. Phloem conducts food (sugars, starch) down the tree from the crown to the roots. It is located just underneath the tree’s bark.

Detailed explanation-3: -The outside layers of the tree trunk are the only living portion. The cambium produces new wood and new bark. The band of tissue outside of the cambium is the phloem.

Detailed explanation-4: -The inner soft bark, or bast, is produced by the vascular cambium; it consists of secondary phloem tissue whose innermost layer conveys food from the leaves to the rest of the plant. The outer bark, which is mostly dead tissue, is the product of the cork cambium (phellogen).

Detailed explanation-5: -The inner bark, or “phloem”, is pipeline through which food is passed to the rest of the tree. It lives for only a short time, then dies and turns to cork to become part of the protective outer bark. The cambium cell layer is the growing part of the trunk.