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🌳 Plants 🌱 Plants and their parts

Roots

Roots

πŸ“– In short

The root is the part of a plant that usually grows underground. We may not see it, but it's very important: it holds the plant in the ground so the wind can't pull it up, and soaks up water and minerals from the soil to feed the rest of the plant.

🀩 Did you know?

  • The total length of the roots of a single rye plant can reach hundreds of kilometers!
  • The roots of some desert trees go down tens of meters to reach water.
  • Some roots grow in the air, like those of some rainforest trees.
  • A taproot stays bigger than the side roots all through the plant's life.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 Taproots

Some plants have one big main root that goes deep into the ground, with small roots branching off it, called a taproot, like carrots and radishes.

πŸ” Fibrous roots

Some plants have lots of thin, similar roots spreading near the surface like hair, called fibrous roots, like wheat and grass.

πŸ’‘ Root hairs

At the tips of roots are tiny hairs that greatly increase the root's surface, so it soaks up more water from the soil.

🎯 Roots we eat

Some plants store food in their roots, which become big and fat, and we eat them, like carrots, beetroot, turnips and sweet potatoes.

πŸ“Έ More pictures

Roots
Roots
Roots

🧩 Test yourself

1 What does a root do?

2 Which of these is a root we eat?

3 Which picture shows β€œRoots”?

🌳 Discover more

πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons