Plants are really weird. Okay, maybe you knew that already. But they do some really really weird things, as though they were aliens from another planet. They don’t fly use spaceships and they don...

Primary Growth of ShootsDo plants grow from the top or the bottom? If you carve your name in a tree trunk, will it be at the same place in 10 years or will it move up the trunk? To know the answer...

No, we’re not talking about Kleenex or Puffs or other handy products during cold season, but the tissues that make up plant bodies. A tissue is a group of cells with a common function, structure...

Transport of water in plantsThe driving force behind water movement in plants is evaporation through the leaves, which acts like a magnet pulling water up the plant’s plumbing system. However, be...

The leaf is the site of two major processes: gas exchange and light capture, which lead to photosynthesis. If you’ve ever eaten a piece of lettuce, cabbage, celery or onion, you’ve eaten a lea...

Bryophyte ReproductionBryophytes are primitive plants that don’t have seeds or vascular systems. Because they lack a mechanism for moving water through their bodies, bryophytes are pretty small....

Now we know how seeds develop, and how they get from place to place. But how does a seed, which can lie dormant in the soil for weeks, months, or years, develop into a plant? Seeds have to take in...

Contrary to popular belief, photoperiodism is not a modern art movement; it refers to the day length plants need to trigger flowering. Why is this important? As you already know, many plants requir...

Teenagers aren’t the only ones with raging hormones. Plants are full of hormones too, but lucky for them they don’t get pimples. In plants, hormones are responsible for all sorts of things, lik...

Alternation of Generations Spores and sporophytes vs gametes and gametophytes: all these concepts can be confusing. Luckily, we at Shmoop have vast stores of wisdom to aid our dear readers. Two thi...

Alternation of Generations Questions1. What kind of reproductive unit do gametophytes make?a. Sporophytesb. Sporesc. Gameted. Sorie. Seeds2. Which plant life cycles have alternation of generations?...

Offline ResourcesRead an in-depth account of how four plants have lured humans in with their sweet rewards. Have humans domesticated plants or have plants domesticated humans? The Botany of Desire,...