๐ณ Plants ๐ฑ Plants and their parts
Stems
๐ In short
The stem is the part of a plant that holds up the leaves, flowers and fruit and lifts them towards the sun. It's also like the plant's motorway, carrying water from the roots to the leaves and food from the leaves to the other parts.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- A giant sequoia's stem can be more than 100 meters tall.
- The trunk of some giant trees can be more than 3.5 meters wide.
- A tree's outer bark protects it like skin.
- Sugar cane is a stem whose sweet juice we eat.
๐ Find out more
๐ Soft and woody stems
Some plants have soft green stems, like mint and flowers, and some have hard, strong woody stems, like tree trunks that hold many branches.
๐ Tubes inside the stem
Inside a stem are tiny tubes: some carry water up and some carry sugar down. Put a white flower in colored water, and after a day you'll see its petals change color!
๐ก Tree rings
Every year a tree adds a new layer of wood to its trunk, so rings appear when the trunk is cut. You can tell a tree's age by counting them.
๐ฏ Amazing stems
Some stems grow underground, like potatoes, some store water, like a cactus stem, and some climb by twining around things, like a bean stem.
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 How can we tell a tree's age?
2 Which of these is a stem that grows underground?
3 A giant sequoia's stem can be more than ?? meters tall.
4 Which picture shows โStemsโ?
๐ณ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Zroota ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
