🌿 Plant Organs
Roots, Stems, Buds & Leaves — The Building Blocks of Plant Life
🌱 Overview: Two Organ Systems
The vast majority of plants have two organ systems: the Shoot System (above ground) and the Root System (below ground). These two systems depend on each other and cannot exist separately.
Seeded plants have three main organs — roots, stems, and leaves — and each organ contains three tissue types:
Dermal Tissue
The outer "skin" that protects the plant from damage and moisture loss
Vascular Tissue
The "plumbing" that transports water, minerals, and organic nutrients
Ground Tissue
Fills the interior, stores nutrients, and participates in photosynthesis
Each plant organ (root, stem, leaf) contains all three tissue types, which work together as a unified team.
Key Idea: Roots supply water and minerals upward, while shoots supply sugars (made by photosynthesis) downward. They are interdependent!
🌱
Roots
water + minerals ↑
⇅
🌿
Shoots
sugars ↓
🗺️ Interactive Plant Organ Map
Interactive visualization — available in the full lesson
👆 Click and drag to explore the plant organ hierarchy. Scroll to zoom.