phloem

[ floh-em ]

noun

1. the part of a vascular bundle consisting of sieve tubes, companion cells, parenchyma, and fibers and forming the food-conducting tissue of a plant.

phloem

/ ˈfləʊɛm /

noun

1. tissue in higher plants that conducts synthesized food substances to all parts of the plant

phloem

/ flō′ĕm′ /

1. A tissue in vascular plants that conducts food from the leaves and other photosynthetic tissues to other plant parts. Phloem consists of several different kinds of cells: sieve elements, parenchyma cells, sclereids, and fibers. In mature woody plants it forms a sheathlike layer of tissue in the stem, just inside the bark.
2. See more at cambiumCompare xylem

phloem

1. The system of vessels in a plant that carries food from the leaves to the rest of the plant. ( See xylem .)

Word History and Origins

Origin of phloem¹

First recorded in 1870–75; from German Phloëm, irregularly formed from Greek phló(os), phloiós “bark (of a tree), rind (of a fruit)” + -ēma passive noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of phloem¹

C19: via German from Greek phloos bark

Example Sentences

While beetles gnaw away and burrow through the phloem under the trees' bark, the much smaller, flightless adelgid sucks out the trees' fluids and leaves behind a toxic saliva.

From Science Daily

The remnants of the xylem and phloem — tubules that transport water, sugars and nutrients throughout living leaves — somehow become a root.

From New York Times

Most sap-sucking insects drill into a nutrient-dense plant tissue called phloem, but spittlebugs specialize in the much more dilute sap from another tissue, xylem.

From Science Magazine

Most sap-eating bugs feed from the plant's phloem, which is the tissue that transmits sugar and other metabolic compounds.

From Science Daily

Dots inside that outline mark where the plant’s vascular tissues, the xylem and phloem, were connected, and conducted fluids between stem and leaf.

From Seattle Times