The vascular cambium of trees and its involvement in defining xylem anatomy

The growth of perennial plants from tall upright trees up to small prostrate dwarf shrubs is a complex of interlinked processes resulting in a three-dimensional body whereby meristematic tissues play a crucial role. Among the various fractions of meristematic tissues, we focus on the vascular cambium as a coherent lateral sheet of only a few cell layers in thickness between the secondary phloem and the secondary xylem, spreading from the roots, through the stem, up to the tips of the branches. During its active period, the vascular cambium delivers phloem cells to the outside and xylem cells to the inside through cell divisions.