Fig. 5.

The removal of gas bubbles in xylem vessels of a bamboo leaf. A gas bubble (dashed circle) moved with the water without decreasing in size as the meniscus moved through the xylem vessel from the start of observation (A, time = 0) to t = 3 s. At t = 3 s, the gas bubble stuck to the xylem vessel wall, while the meniscus continued to rise (B). The bubble changed little in size until the meniscus stopped at the end wall of the vessel element at t = 9 s (C). The gas bubble became smaller while the meniscus was not moving. Finally, the gas bubble was removed after 20 s (D). The arrows show the position of the meniscus: r, rising front; s, static front. Scale bars = 20 µm. Observation under normal room light. A supplementary video is available upon request.