The plants

 

Unit 5: The plants

Plants are living things because they carry out processes such as nutrition (in the roots and leaves), sensitivity and reproduction (in the flower). These processes happen in different parts of the plants.

Parts of the plants

Roots are the part underground and some of them are edible (potato, carrot). Roots can:

1)      Make the plant stand

2)      Absorb water

Stems support the plant upright above the ground. Stems carry water through the plant. Stems divides up into branches. Branches support leaves, flowers and fruits. Stems can be:

1)      Herbaceous: soft and flexible.

2)      Woody: hard and rigid (trunks).

Some plants have leaves all the year long, they are evergreens; whereas other plants lose their leaves in autumn, they are deciduous.

Leaves hang from branches by the petiole and in the leaf blade plants make their own nutrients in a process called “photosynthesis”.

Nutrition in plants

The water and minerals in the ground are absorbed by the roots (this is called raw sap) and sent upwards to the leaves where sunlight and carbon dioxide are mixed resulting in elaborated sap. Elaborated sap goes then all around the plant giving nutrients to feed all the parts of the plant.

Reproduction in plants

Flowers are the reproductive organs of plants. In the flower there are different parts that allow the plant to reproduce:

The process of reproduction in plants has different steps:

1)      Stamens make pollen

2)      Pollen gets into the pistil

3)      Ovary matures and turns into fruit (with seeds inside).

4)      Seeds fall in the ground and a new plant grows there.