A Wonderleaf question
How do plants drink water?
a real page from the book
Plants drink by taking water in through tiny root hairs, then carrying it upward through narrow tubes in the stem. Water leaves the leaves as vapor, and that loss pulls more water from below. The plant does not gulp; it moves water through roots, tubes, air, and sunlight.
The lovely trick is that water is clingy. Its molecules hold to one another, so the pull from the leaves can tug a connected line of water upward. On a hot day, a large tree can move a bathtub's worth of water without making a sound.
Wonder words
- roots
- xylem
- stomata
- cohesion
Try it out
Put a celery stalk or leafy stem in a cup of water, then check later for fresher, firmer leaves.
Read the whole picture book
Watercolour scenes, straight answers, about three minutes cover to cover.
Open the picture bookKeep wondering
- Why do leaves change color and fall in autumn?
- How do roots know which way is down?
- Why do fruits taste sweeter when they are ripe?
- How do plants make the food we eat?
- Why do apples turn brown after cutting?
- Why do bananas turn brown?
And the next question?
Ask anything — Wonderleaf writes and illustrates a picture book for it. That's the whole idea.
Ask your own question