Page 103 - Science Class 06
P. 103
However, some plants have weak stems.
Therefore, they cannot stand without any
support. Trees have strong and woody A bud is a condensed shoot. A new shoot
stem. Shrubs have thin but strong stem. or a new flower may emerge to from a
Herbs have thin and weak stem. Creepers bud. Buds which grow into a new shoot
have very weak stem that grow along the are called vegeta ve buds and buds which
ground. The stems of the herbs are called grow into flowers are called floral buds.
herbaceous stems and the stem of a tree is
called woody stem.
Mechanical Support
Most of the climbers like gourd, money
plant, grapevine, etc. have weak stems.
Such plants have auxiliary buds which are
modified into thin, wiry coiled and leafless
projec ons known as tendrils. These
tendrils help plants to grow upward by
coiling surrounding external support.
The strength of stem depends upon
To differen ate between a storage root
the size of the plant.
and a storage stem.
MODIFICATION OF STEMS
Dig out a potato and a carrot from the
Modifica on also takes place in stems. ground. Wash both of them properly and
Let’s see how: carefully. Now, take a magnifying glass
and observe both potato and carrot. You
Storage of Food
will observe that the carrot has only hair
The stems of some plants are underground. like projec ons called root hair. Now
These stems store food and become observe potato, you will no ce that it
swollen and fleshy. Some mes, we confuse bears leaves, nodes and buds. This shows
to differen ate between a root and a stem. that potato is a stem that stores food
Actually, such kind of stems bear nodes, while the carrot is a root which also
scaly leaves and buds which we normally do stores food.
not observe. Some examples of such stems
are potato, ginger, etc. Food Prepara on
The stems of some plants also prepare food
for the plants.
For example, the stem of a cactus plant. The
stem of cactus plants are thick, fleshy and
green. They carry out photosynthesis and
Potato Ginger
Science-6 103
