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Asked by ellenharty1 to Angela, Gabriele, Karen, Maria, Shane on 12 Nov 2013.
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Angela Stevenson answered on 12 Nov 2013:
That’s a great question Ellen! It’s a bit counter intuitive for trees to grow upwards rather than down since it’s against the force of gravity! so then why do they grow up and not down?? Well, they need light to grow, and survive. In the forest they try to grow as tall as possible to get to the less shaded parts of the forest, and above all the other trees, so that they can get more light. BUT not all plants grow up, plants just follow light (their food source), so if you were to place a plant in the corner of your room, it would grow sideways, or any way really, just to attain the light coming through your window, which is why we sometimes find sideways growing plants. Hope that helps! thanks for you question 🙂
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Shane Mc Guinness answered on 12 Nov 2013:
Yep, that’s it exactly! And did you know that in some very rare cases trees can grow downward, like from the roofs of caves….if there is enough light that is! Growing higher is also a really good way of spreading seeds far away, so that your own seeds don’t breed with each other. Otherwise that would lead to mutations and a very unhealthy tree!
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