Vascular plants pull water and minerals from the soil through their roots, and the xylem helps transport the water and minerals up to the rest of the plant.
In this activity, we will use celery to demonstrate the function of the xylem.
Materials:
- celery stalk
- food coloring
- glass of water
Procedure:
- Fill a glass with water and 20+ drops of food coloring. Make it dark.
- Cut stalks of celery near the bottom of the bunch.
- Put celery into the water. Wait a few hours.
- Check back on celery. Is there anything different about the leaves?
- Cut across the celery with a knife. Take a look, and you will see the food coloring has traveled up the xylem of the stalk!
Go Further
- Set up many different stalks in many different colors. Keep one in plain water too, as your control.
- Try different edible plants — will lettuce suck up the colored water? What about a carrot? cauliflower?
