Interesting story...I think the surprising part was supposed to be that small trees can produce large amounts of sap. My brother runs a small sugaring operation in Connecticut and our family collected sap when I was a child. We always knew which direction (up) the sap flowed in, and so do the syrup producers. Some of my best childhood memories are drinking sap ice cold from the bucket, but carrying buckets to the house not so much!
------------------------------ On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 9:00 PM EST Jorge A. Santiago-Blay wrote: >Dear Ecolog-Listers: > >Basic botany question. All along I have understood that the so-called "sap" >from which maple syrup is manufactured comes products transported in the >xylem. Thus, the liquid is harvested as it travels upwards from the roots >into the shoot as the plants begins to increase its metabolic demands late >winter and early spring. Because their contents are so diluted, they needs >to be boiled extensively. > >The link below seem to suggest that the some people in the maple syrup >industry believe that the sap is flowing down (I suppose on the direction >of the roots). > >http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-turn-syrup-making-upside-down > >Could someone let me know the: > >1. anatomical vascular tissue through which the maple sap travels? This >link appears to indicate it is sapwood, in other words, xylem, >http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm > >2. direction of travel? The same site says, roots up, >http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/produc/sapflow.htm > >Thus, how can the link below appear to indicate other wise? > >http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/02/270204651/sap-discovery-could-turn-syrup-making-upside-down > >Gracias, sincerely, > >Jorge > >Jorge A. Santiago-Blay, PhD >blaypublishers.com >http://blayjorge.wordpress.com/ >http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/santiagoblay.html
