Plants

There are many different plants, but does everyone know how the plants survive in the water?

 
 


 How do the roots of plants get air?
Underwater roots of plants usually have cut ends on the plants' stems. If you look hard enough you will notice that aquatic plants have large air spaces, but a non wetland plant stem is much denser, without large spaces. The stems of aquatic plants are made of spongy  tissue and full of holes. Air travels from the leaves above water, through the holey stem and down to the roots to give air. If you look at a water lily  stem you will notice the large size of the air spaces. Water lilies have floating leaves attached to long, flexible underwater stems. The stems must have large air spaces to make them light and elastic, or their weight would drag the leaves under the water. Sedge stems have smaller air spaces. They need  to be stiffer and stronger than the  water lily stems to support their leaves and flowers in the air.
 
 


This is a picture of a water lily



                                  Emergent Plants
                                               Emergent Plants are called that because their tops grow out of the water. You can find these plants in wetlands like marshes, and freshwater marshes. Some of these plants may include cattails and bulrushes.

                This is a picture of a Cattail. 


         Submergent Plants
                          Submergent plants unlike emergent plants do not grow above thewater's surface. The submergent plants in a marsh may be the same species as those in the deep water environment farther from shore. Some of these plants include coon tail, water milfoil, and bushy pond weed.

                                                               This is a picture of a

                    Coontail drawn by James
                           C. Schmidt.



                                   Floating Plants
         Floating plants get theirname because they float on the water's surface, while their stems are under water and rooted to the bottom. Some of these plants may include water lilies, duckweed, and water hyacinths.

                This is a picture of duckweed



                   Algae
                         Algae is tiny plants that float around in the water. Algae provides food for fish fry. To identify algae you look for single cells connected end to end that are green colored thin threads, branched filaments of a net inter woven. Also it has no roots, stems, or leaves. Some kinds of Algae includes water net, blanket weed, frog spittle, green algae, and other types of Algae.
           picture of Algae
       (which I have not found)

                        By. Alyssa A.


This page was created by the Osseo-Fairchild sixth grade students supported by a Cluster A Goals 2000 Grant
Created 4/8/1999     Updated 4/8/1999    sdp

You may contact us at:  spoore@mail.ofsd.k12.wi.us

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