Differentiation of the xylem progresses outwards, of the phloem inwards, but the two tissues never meet in the centre.
After the cambium has been active for some time producing secondary xylem and phloem, the latter consisting of sievetubes, phloem-parenchyma and frequently thick-walled fibres, a second cambium is developed in the pericycle; this produces a second vascular zone, which is in turn followed by a third cambium, and so on, until several hollow cylinders are developed.
A leaf-trace, as it passes through the cortex, has a collateral structure, the protoxylem being situated at the inner edge of the xylem; when it reaches the leaf-base the position of the spiral tracheids is gradually altered, and the endarch arrangement (protoxylem internal) gives place to a mesarch structure (protoxylem more or less central and not on the edge of the xylem strand).
All the metaxylems join at the nodes into a complete ring of xylem.
New tangential walls arise in the cells which are the seat of cambial activity, and an initial layer of cells is established which cuts off tissue mother-cells on the inside and outside, alternately contributing to the xylem and to the phloem.