Moving Up With The Stem
(aka The Trunk)

The stem of the plant is like the plumbing system in your house or the roads in a transport system. It is the place where things move around in the plant. The stem;

• helps to carry the water from the roots up to the leaves.
  
  
• moves the food that the leaves produce to all the other parts of the plant.
  
  
• can help to store some of the food that the leaves produce

The stem also helps to provide support for the plant.

• In many plants such as trees, the stem helps to push the leaves up above other plants to get more sunlight.
  
  
• In other plants such as vines, the stems wind around things to grow higher.
  
  
• In some plants such as some ivy, the stems have suckers that let it cling or hang onto things to get higher.
  
  
• Other plants such as many grasses and strawberries grow stems along the ground. When these stems reach a suitable place new plants grow from these stems.
  
  
• Some parts of stems even grow under the ground, such as in the case of the potato.