Tracheids In Hardwoods
The wood of gymnosperms is called softwood.
Tracheids in hardwoods. Hardwood and heavy since it contains plenty of wood fibres fibre tracheids and libriform fibres. Vessels are found only in angiosperms. Vessels in hardwoods and tracheids in conifers conduct water and substances dissolved in water. In addition to giving the tree most of its strength tracheids also double as pores in a sense since conifers lack true pores they rely on tracheids for sap conduction.
Tracheids within a conifer s trunk the majority of the wood is comprised of long thin cells called tracheids. Tracheids are dead single celled pipes that act much like vessels but are only found in gymnosperms. Softwoods are made of tracheids and parenchyma and hardwoods of vessel members fibres and parenchyma. The softwood mainly composed of tracheids and wood rays parenchyma.
Tracheids are considered a primitive cell type that gave rise through evolution to. A few hardwood species contain tracheids but such instances are rare. Tracheids perform the same function as the pores in hardwood trees and also produce sap which protects the trees from pests and transports water and other essential elements necessary for growth. Vessels are vertically aligned tubes made up of dead cells that transport liquid.