What you will learn in A plant that cannot move

1. 1. Solving problems without moving

   Six problems a plant cannot walk away from, and the structures that answer them — proposed by you before you see what plants built.

2. 2. Roots, stems, leaves, and their disguises

   Tendrils, thorns, tubers and traps are roots, stems and leaves in disguise — and the disguise comes off when you cut them open.

3. 3. Three tissue systems

   Parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma are three walls, and the job decides the wall — and the wall decides whether the cell stays alive.

4. 4. Reading a section

   Monocot or dicot, root, stem or leaf — identified from a section, and only marked when you name the feature that decided it.

5. 5. Growing forever

   A tree adds a layer of wood each season it has one — so its rings record its age in Kashmir and in Kerala, and record nothing reliable where there is no dry season.