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Why do earlywood vessels in ring-porous trees conduct water rapidly?
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wood
Temperate softwoods (left column) and hardwoods (right column), selected to highlight natural variations in colour and figure: (A) Douglas fir, (B) sugar pine, (C) redwood, (D) white oak, (E) American sycamore, and (F) black cherry. Each image shows (from left to right) transverse, radial, and tangential surfaces. Click on an individual image for an enlarged view.
In ring-porous trees, earlywood vessels conduct water rapidly because they are significantly larger in diameter than the vessels formed later in the growing season.12
The rate of water conduction in these vessels is governed by physical principles where the flow rate varies with the fourth power of the radius of the vessel lumen. Consequently, the larger diameter of the earlywood vessels allows for a much higher volume of water to move through the xylem per unit of time compared to the smaller vessels found in latewood. These vessels function as efficient, hollow conduits that are devoid of cell contents at maturity, facilitating the rapid mass flow of water required by the tree.134