Concept:Osmosis is the movement of water from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution through a semi-permeable membrane.
Explanation:In plant roots, the root hair cells have a higher concentration of solutes than the surrounding soil water.
This creates a concentration gradient across the selectively permeable cell membrane.
Water therefore moves from the soil (higher water potential) into the root cells (lower water potential) by osmosis.
The other options do not directly describe osmosis: xylem water movement is mainly due to transpiration pull, stomatal water loss is transpiration, and phloem translocation is the transport of food.
Answer:D. absorption of water from the soil by the root