A wood cell with spiral or other markings and closed throughout, as in pine wood.
Elongated and tapering woody plant cell, as in conifers. Conducts nutrients and supports the plant.
(tray´ kee id) • A distinctive conducting and supporting cell found in the xylem of nearly all vascular plants, characterized by tapering ends and walls that are pitted but not perforated.
This definition used to be so simple. Its like this. In the good old days, xylem had two kinds of tube-like systems, vessels and tracheids. Vessels were wide, open, short and dead. Tracheids were narrow, closed-ended, long, and mostly had some living cell associated with them. Then came Carlquist & Schneider (2002). These folks unfairly used actual observations, rather than generations of classroom dogma. This was an utterly rotten thing to do because it messed up a lot of perfectly good, if slightly faded, lecture notes. C&S pointed out that there are at least six character states involved, and that any given plant may have tubular things of several different kinds falling almost anywhere in that morphospace. To complicate matters further, in plants with vessels, the tracheids may have specialized as structural support tissues (biological rebar). In plants without vessels, tracheids often differ strongly between vessel-like earlywood and latewood tracheids. The morphological characters identified by C&S are shown in the figure.
An elongated, tapering xylem cell which conducts water and provides mechanical strength in plants.
An elongated xylem cell that helps in the transportation of water in plants.
long tubular cell peculiar to xylem
a water conducting and supportive cell type of xylem composed of long, thin cells with tapered ends and walls hardened with lignin
A water-conducting xylem cell that is thickened and hardened by lignin, contributing to the support of the plant.
an elongated closed cell of wood having secondary thickening and conducting water.
(Gr. tracheia, windpipe) An elongated, tapering xylem cell, with lignified pitted walls, and adapted for conduction and support. Found in conifers, ferns and related plants.
The elongated cells that constitute the greater part of the structure of the softwoods; also present but uncommon in some hardwoods.
Tracheids are elongated cells in the xylem of vascular plants, serving in the transport of water. The build of tracheids will vary according to where they occur.
