The Parts of a Plant

A plant is a team

A plant might look simple, but it is really a team of parts all working together. Each part has its own important job. Most plants have five main parts: roots, stem, leaves, flowers and seeds. Let's meet each one.

Roots 🌿

The roots grow downwards into the soil, where you usually can't see them. They have two big jobs:

1. They soak up water and minerals from the soil.
2. They hold the plant in place so the wind can't blow it over.

Some roots, like a carrot, are also a store of food for the plant — and a tasty snack for us!

Stem

The stem holds the plant up tall so its leaves can reach the sunlight. It works like a set of straws inside. Tiny tubes carry water up from the roots to the leaves, and carry food from the leaves back down to the rest of the plant. In a tree, the thick woody stem is called the trunk.

Leaves 🍃

The leaves are the plant's food factories. They make food in a clever process called photosynthesis. Here is how it works:

• Leaves take in sunlight.
• They take in water from the roots.
• They take in carbon dioxide gas from the air.

The leaf mixes these together to make sugar, which is the plant's food. As it does this, it gives out oxygen — the gas that we and all animals need to breathe. So plants help keep our air fresh!

Flowers 🌸

The colourful flowers are how many plants make new life. Their bright petals and sweet smell attract bees, butterflies and other insects. As an insect moves from flower to flower, it carries a yellow dust called pollen. This is called pollination, and it helps the flower make seeds.

Seeds

Inside the flower, seeds form. Each tiny seed holds everything needed to grow a brand new plant. Seeds travel in many ways: some are carried by the wind, some float on water, and some are eaten by animals and dropped far away. When a seed lands in good soil with water and sunlight, it sprouts and the cycle begins again.

Grow your own

The best way to learn about plants is to grow one! Plant a bean seed in a clear cup with damp cotton wool, and put it on a sunny windowsill. In a few days you will see the root grow down and the stem and first leaves grow up. Watch it every day and draw what you see.

Plants need water to grow — find out where that water comes from in The Water Cycle Explained. To see how plants feed other living things, read Food Chains and Ecosystems.