Plant cells, tissues, organs, and structural adaptations. Plant functions belong in Plant Physiology.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
What usually triggers a pea tendril to curl around a garden stake?
Unequal growth on the tendril's two sides makes it bend and coil around the object it touches.
What color inside a freshly cut pea root nodule usually signals active nitrogen fixation?
An oxygen-binding pigment gives active nodules their pink interior and helps protect the nitrogen-fixing machinery.
What do plants provide to fuel their bacterial partners in root nodules?
The plant sends carbon made during photosynthesis to its roots, paying an energy cost for the nitrogen supplied by bacteria.
What do climbing plants use tendrils for?
Tendrils let a plant climb toward light without growing a thick trunk to support its weight.
Pea tendrils develop from modified parts of which plant organs?
Some leaflets become tendrils, while the remaining flat leaf parts continue to capture sunlight.
Root-nodule bacteria help plants obtain which nutrient from the air?
Plants need nitrogen to build proteins, but most cannot use the nitrogen gas that makes up most of the air.
What kind of microorganisms live in the nitrogen-fixing root nodules of pea plants?
The plant builds a sheltered home for its bacterial partners rather than leaving them exposed in the surrounding soil.
What makes Boston ivy tendril tips cling to a flat wall?
The pads release a sticky substance, allowing Boston ivy to climb surfaces too broad for tendrils to wrap around.
An onion bulb's fleshy layers are modified parts of which plant organ?
The bulb's short stem forms a flat base called the basal plate, where the layers attach and roots emerge.
Which tree's bark can be harvested repeatedly to make natural bottle stoppers?
Harvesters remove the outer cork layer without cutting down the oak, which grows a fresh layer for later harvests.