Subject: Absorption in plant stems?

From: Ben Gardiner <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 06 Oct 1996 16:16:38 -0400

Hi there,
	I am in a grade 11 biology class, & we just finished taking a 
class on how plants create root pressure. The textbook says that the 
water, once absorbed through the root hairs, travels towards the 
endodermis in between the cell walls, by "absortion". The endodermis 
cells then pumps salts into themselves to change the diffusion gradient 
of the water, & draw water in, then the water gets pumped up the xylem. 
	My question is: What stops the water from diffusing into the 
parenchyma cells which it travels between to get to the endodermis? 
&
	Once the water get's inside the endodermis cells, what makes it 
go into the vascular bundle, instead of the parenchyma cells( which are 
full of starches & sugars, so would suck up water)?
	The textbook is not clear on this at all, & my teracher does no 
know the answer, could someone help me out. If so, please e-mail me 
(don't post, as I won't be able to retreive it), at [email-masked]. 
Thanx for you time
	(the ever searching) Ben Gardiner