sap

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sap

plant physiology

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Key People:: Stephen Hales; Henry Horatio Dixon

Related Topics:: plant; maple syrup; cohesion hypothesis; transport

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sap, watery fluid of plants. Cell sap is a fluid found in the vacuoles (small cavities) of the living cell; it contains variable amounts of food and waste materials, inorganic salts, and nitrogenous compounds. Xylem sap carries soil nutrients (e.g., dissolved minerals) from the root system to the leaves; the water is then lost through transpiration. 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. See also cohesion hypothesis.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.