ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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We don't always give credit where credit is due. [Guy handing over his credit card]

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What does that mean?

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Well, take Hollywood movies, for instance. If we see a movie, we might applaud the actors [Paparazzi and crowd surrounding actors]

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and actresses in it and discuss what a great job they did – all the while neglecting

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to talk about all the other hard-working people who made the movie happen behind the scenes. [Camera crew looking unhappy]

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Or maybe we'll hear a new song on the radio and remark how that singer did a really

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great job – even though it was someone else who actually wrote the song in the first place! [Songwriter is kicked off stage]

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And there's another example of this that exists in nature – and you're probably guilty of it, too.

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When you're walking down the street and spot a beautiful garden, you might stop and say, [Boy walking through a garden]

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“Wow! That flower sure is pretty!”

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But what about the hard-working stem supporting that beautiful flower? It deserves some credit

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too, y'know. These hard-working plant stems aren't always

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the same, and actually come in a variety of types. [Different flowers are shown]

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Herbaceous stems, for instance, are fleshy on the inside.

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And no, we don't mean some sort of horror movie where the stems are half plant, [People running away from a half plant man]

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half man…though that does sound really creepy…

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Think more along the lines of a daisy. If you've ever made a daisy chain, then you know

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what fleshy, herbaceous stem feels like. Woody stems, on the other hand, are what we

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might call twigs, because they look and feel, well, woody. [Woody from Toy Story appears]

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And no, they don't say, "There's a snake in my boot!" We were disappointed, too.

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And Tuberous stems, meanwhile, generally support bulb plants, like tulips.

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But regardless of how they look and feel, all stems share the same purpose: think of

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them like a highway, but instead of transporting cars and trucks, they transport water, nutrients [Diagram of the stem showing flow]

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and the products of photosynthesis throughout the plant.

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And bonus: there aren't any sneaky cops waiting to give out speeding tickets. [Cop appears inside the plant stem]

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Stems are typically divided into several main parts...

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The pith, a spongy material used to store and transport nutrients...

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The xylem, a network of tubes used to transport water and nutrients...

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The phloem, a network of tubes used to transport food throughout the plant... [Coop and Dino showing definitions of the different components]

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The cambium and cork, both of which are tissues used to help the stem continue to grow...

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And the epidermis, which is the plant's skin.

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But again, not in a creepy horror movie way... Depending on the sort of stem you have, these

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different parts of the plant might be arranged differently, but the general idea is always

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the same: to protect the plant, keep it growing, and feed it all the food and water it needs! [The stem relaxing on a chair]

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Phew. Sounds like a tough job…we hope there's some sort of National Stem's Day... [The stem bringing the flower a drink]

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we'll pitch it to Hallmark.

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So the next time you stop and smell the roses, give a bit of a love to the stem below

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doing all the hard work.

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But don't actually physically give it any love, because we don't want to imagine what

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would happen if you tried to smooch one of those thorny stems. Not pretty. [Beware of thorns sign appears]

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