Page 60 - Photosynthesis: The Green Miracle

they know whether or not something is worth clinging to? It is the plant’s
cells carry out this analysis. How do cells, too small to be seen with the
naked eye and lacking brains, information and reason, feel the need to an-
alyze things? And then, what equipment and what measures do they em-
ploy? Each of these questions shows that Allah has created every living
thing with the characteristics it requires, and that it lives in accordance
with Allah’s commandments.
Recently it was discovered, though only partially, why tendrils per-
form this astonishing activity. Tendril-bearing vines generally live in

thickly forested regions, and climb to reach the sunlight so that they can
photosynthesize and grow, reaching greater heights than the plants that
support them and thus absorbing more sunlight. This both increases their
energy intake and also permits their flowers to be fertilized under more
advantageous conditions. 18
These plants have different methods of climbing specially created for
that task. A climber’s simplest method is to wind itself around a support.

This support may be the stem of another plant or other long, solid body.
The way that a tip of a vine circles as it lengthens is due to the effect of
this twining process. The mechanisms produced by the different chemi-
cals and organic structures inside the plant permit it to perceive light,
gravity, touch and heat. Again thanks to these same mechanisms, the
plant reacts, generally in the form of growth.
The way that a shoot grows with circular bends takes place under the
effect of this touch. As soon as it touches a support it makes a growth
move in the opposite direction to the surface it comes into contact with.

That is because the surface the shoot leads it to fold inwards. Thus the
shoot begins to grow by winding around the support. Moreover, it grows
longer and faster from the first corner it touches. Growth is so rapid that
it can even be noticed by the naked eye after just a few hours.

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