A plant can't move to find a drink or a meal — so it grows its own plumbing. Today you'll learn the parts and the two tiny pipes inside, then you will predict what happens when we block them.
Before we start — a plant can't walk over for a drink — so how do you think water gets from the soil all the way up to the leaves?
The roots drink up water and hold the plant down. The stem holds the plant up and carries things between the parts. The leaves catch sunlight and make the plant's food.
The xylem carries water UP from the roots to the leaves. The phloem carries the food (sugar) made in the leaves to the rest of the plant — including down to the roots.
In the leaves, sunlight joins water (from the roots) and carbon dioxide (from the air) to make sugar — the plant's food — and release oxygen. This is photosynthesis.