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Phloem Evolution: An Appraisal Based on the Fossil Record

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Sieve Elements

Abstract

Our knowledge of the evolution of vascular tissue through geologic time has come almost entirely from xylem; no doubt due to the fact that thick-walled tracheids are more easily preserved in depositional environments. As a result, secondary xylem is common in the fossil record from the Devonian to the Recent. In contrast, phloem tissue consists of relatively thin-walled cells that are less likely to be preserved. Conducting elements in the phloem are under high hydrostatic pressure while they are functioning and this physiological constraint probably contributes to their collapse during fossilization and their subsequent rarity in the geologic record. Within the past 10 years, however, there have been a number of contributions that have focused on the anatomy of phloem in fossil plants (Table 14.1) and the data from these studies are beginning to provide a picture of phloem structure and evolution through geologic time.

Formerly Edith L. Smoot.

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Authors
  1. Edith L. Taylor
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zellenlehre, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, D-6900, Heidelberg, Germany

    H.-D. Behnke

  2. Department of Botany, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, USA

    R. D. Sjolund

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Dedicated to Katherine Esau for her inspiring work on phloem structure

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Taylor, E.L. (1990). Phloem Evolution: An Appraisal Based on the Fossil Record. In: Behnke, HD., Sjolund, R.D. (eds) Sieve Elements. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74445-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74445-7_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74447-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74445-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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