root pressure


nounBotany.
  1. osmotic pressure within the cells of a root system that causes sap to rise through a plant stem to the leaves.

Origin of root pressure

1
First recorded in 1870–75

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use root pressure in a sentence

  • The force that causes this rise of water in stems is known as root pressure.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter

Scientific definitions for root pressure

root pressure

  1. Pressure produced in the roots of plants, causing exudation of sap from cut stems and guttation of water from leaves. The pressure is generated by the concentration of solutes in the xylem of the root and stem, which in turn causes water to move into the xylem by osmosis.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.