Hydrophytes

• where do hydrophytes grow?

  they grow partially or wholly submerged in water (e.g. the water lily, which is rooted to the mud at the bottom of a a pond and has leaves floating on the water surface)
• how are hydrophytes adapted?

  • water is a supportive medium so they have little or no lignified support tissues
  • surrounded by water, there is little need for transport tissue, so xylem is poorly developed
  • leaves have little or no cuticle, because theres no need to reduce water loss
  • stomata are on the upper surface of floating leaves, because theres lower surface is in the water
  • stems and leaves have large air spaces, continuous down to their roots, forming a reservoir of oxygen and carbon dioxide, which provide buoyancy
• what is this an image of?

  a diagram of a section through a water lily leaf