4. Take a beaker (jar or jug) with some water and put some drops of red or blue ink in it. Take a tender twig of any flowery plant with leaves and flowers, preferably
white flowers, and put it in the beaker for 6 to 8 hours. What do you observe? For
further examination cut across its stem and look for the presence of colored water.
Explain your observations.

Blue Ink patches are observed on the leaves of the plant. Also, on cutting across the stem of the plant, the red color of the solution is found along the length of the stem.

The above observation shows that the stem of the plant conducts water through its length to the leaves of the plant.

Explanation:

The leaves of plant obtain water and minerals from the soil through the roots of the plant. The water is conducted by the stem of the plant from the roots to the leaves of the plant where they are needed for photosynthesis as well as for cooling the plant. The xylem tissue in plants is responsible for conducting water to the leaves of the plant from the roots of the plant through the stem.

The conduction of water from the roots to the leaves of the plant is maintained by capillary action as well as by transpiration pull. Transpiration pull refers to the pull of water by the transpiration action taking place in the leaves of the pant, whereby water evaporates from the leaves of the plant through the opening in the leaf of the plant.

When the blue ink is added to the water, the colored water is conducted through the stem of the plant to the leaves. On getting to the leaves, the water molecules evaporate leaving behind the colored patches fond on the leaves. When the stem of the plant is cut, the blue color is seen along its length showing that the colored water was conducted through it.

answer; the correct answer is desert plants;