tracheid
Noun
Meaning
A wood cell with spiral or other markings and closed throughout, as in pine wood.
Source: Webster's dictionarySynonyms
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Examples
An embolism is where an air bubble is created in a tracheid.
During the Devonian, maximum xylem diameter increased with time, with the minimum diameter remaining pretty constant. citation By the middle Devonian, the tracheid diameter of some plant lineages ( Zosterophyllophytes ) had plateaued.
A tracheid, once cavitated, cannot have its embolism removed and return to service (except in a few advanced angiosperms which have developed a mechanism of doing so).
For this reason, pits in tracheid walls have very small diameters, to prevent air entering and allowing bubbles to nucleate.