Page 31 - Photosynthesis: The Green Miracle

Harun Yahya

Rather than grow their own sturdy stalks or stems, these plants use other
plants’ trunks as supports. Climbing plants must constantly angle their
leaves towards the Sun. However, since the plant they climb up to will
shade them from light coming from above, the plant changes place ac-
cording to the most appropriate angle to its stem, rather than remaining
at the same level. The leaves thus turn their surfaces in the direction of the

Sun.
Another ingenious design in leaves can be seen on windy days. The
surfaces of plant leaves are generally broad, letting them receive as much
solar energy as possible. However, a strong wind or storm acting on these
surfaces could lead to the plant bending and breaking off. Yet this seldom
happens, because the leaf’s structural features have been created in such
a way as to reduce the wind’s effects. The cellulose and fibers that serve
as any plant’s skeleton have a considerable ability to flex. Besides, leaves

grow in the same direction with extension of plant. This helps protect
against the destructive effect of the wind, as the leaf is thus able to bend
in the direction of the wind without breaking. 7
A second property that protects leaves is that they are able to fold in-
wards, along their midrib, as the wind’s velocity increases. The leaf thus
forms an aerodynamic, V-shaped structure that cleaves the wind like the

prow of a ship does the waves. Furthermore, leaves are capable of flatten-
ing themselves against one another in order to increase the wind resist-
ance of their collective aerodynamic structure. In other words, when the
leaves along a branch lean in the direction of the wind, they do so in such
a way as to lessen the force on the next leaf in line. 8
In the same way that terrestrial plants have been designed to resist
the wind, plants in water have also been designed so as to reduce the ef-
fect of the current to a minimum. The water’s current has a similar effect

to that of wind; however, thanks to their special design, underwater
plants like seaweed are able to resist the power of waves and currents.
These plants lack the thick, woody stems of those on land, but the roots

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