The children in my class had to indicate on a drawing the lower, otherworldly part of a flower. This seems to be the stem to me.
Some children answered with the word “steel”. This doesn’t seem correct to me. Or am I seeing this wrong and stem and stem are synonyms after all?
Answer
The stem is indeed the central part of the plant, at the bottom of the stem are the roots, at the top, the leaves, the flowers (and later the fruits). In woody plants, we call the stem a trunk. The stem is the connecting piece with which a flower (fruit) or a leaf is attached to the stem. We therefore speak of a flower stalk (fruit stalk) or a petiole.
For example: A sunflower can have a stem as long as 2 meters; an apple has a stalk that easily detaches from the plant when picked; in autumn a cork layer is formed between the branch and the petiole so that the leaves fall off.
Answered by
Koen Es
Botany
New Avenue 38 1860 Meise
http://www.plantentuinmeise.be
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