Abstract:The studies of cavitation and embolization are the advanced subject of xylemwater transport problerns in woody plants. There have been published many papers, butdifferent viewpoints exist among different scholars. Based on the last 80 year' studies aroundthe world, the literature about xylem cavitation and embolization is summarized anddiscussed in this paper, which include the parts of the discovery, measuring methods,induced factors, formation mechanism, the relationship between hydraulic architecture and xylem embolism，etc．The hot position of this field is also pointed in order to draw more interests in the study．