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Lesson: Chapter 1 — Living Tissues

Parenchyma 3 of 5

Question 3

A soft herbaceous plant stands upright with no woody tissue in it at all. What holds it up?

The right answer is the one marked above.

The turgidity of its parenchyma cells, whose vacuoles are full of water. Every cell is swollen tight and pressing on its neighbours, and that pressure supports the plant.

This is why a plant that is not watered wilts, and why watering it makes it stand up again. Nothing broke — the support was pressure, not structure.

Answer the question to continue.