Water movement through a plant

 

Once inside the root hair, the water needs to be transferred to the xylem, the vascular tissue involved in water transport through the plant. In roots, the vascular tissue is found in a central column, separated from the cortex parenchyma cells by a single layer of cells called the endodermis

LS Root Vigna unguiculata

There is a water concentration gradient across the root which means that water which has entered the root hair cell continues to move across the cortex to the endodermis by osmosis. The route taken by much of the water is through the cellulose cell walls, the rest of the water either passes through the cytoplasm of the cells or via the cell vacuoles.
TS Primula root

 

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