HORTICULTURE

Detailed explanation-1: -Maple sap is xylem sap, containing some sugar in late winter. Phloem, or sieve-tube, sap is the fluid carrying sugar from leaves to other parts of the plant in the summer.

Detailed explanation-2: -I always assumed that the sugar maple sap we tap for maple syrup comes from the phloem, I was wrong-it doesn’t. When maple sugaring in the spring we are actually tapping into the xylem, not the phloem, the sugars in this kind of sap come from the woody parts of the tree.

Detailed explanation-3: -There are actually two kinds of sap in a plant. Phloem (FLOWM) sap is the more nutrient rich form, and flows from the leaves bringing sugars and hormones to nutrient-hungry parts of the plant, such as the stem and roots. Xylem (ZY lum) consists mostly of water, mineral elements and (low levels of) nutrients.

Detailed explanation-4: -Maple trees are tapped by drilling holes into their trunks and collecting the sap, which is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. Maple syrup was first made by the Indigenous peoples of North America.