Transporting water

How does water climb all the way up a tree?

A tall tree lifts water from its roots all the way to its top leaves.

Water goes up

Plants need water in every part, even the leaves at the very top. The roots absorb water from the soil. The stem transports the water up to the leaves and flowers.

Water travels through the stem in tiny tubes. They are thinner than a hair, and there are thousands of them.

See it for yourself

Put a white flower or a celery stick in coloured water. After a day, the petals or leaves change colour! This shows that the water has travelled up the stem.

If you cut across the celery stem, you can see small coloured dots. Each dot is a water tube.

Water leaves the leaves

Leaves have tiny holes, too small to see. Water evaporates from these holes into the air. This pulls more water up the stem, like drinking through a straw.

A big tree can lose hundreds of litres of water into the air on a hot day. That is why trees help to keep places cool.

Cut flowers

Flowers in a vase still drink through their stems. Florists cut the stems at a slant so they can take in more water. When the water runs out, the flowers wilt.

What I learnt

I know that water is taken in by the roots and carried up the stem.
I can describe an experiment that shows water moving through a plant.