Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Life with Lots of Water
Jungle Garden at The Huntington.
Questions & Prompts
Dive into the photograph and imagine you are standing in the photograph. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you taste? What do you feel?
Plants need air, nutrients, sunlight, and water. Which of these can you identify in the photograph? Which can you not see?
What plant adaptations can you identify in these photographs?
What questions do you have?
In nature, the plants in this photo grow in different places all over the world. These plants grow in places that are thousands of miles away from each other, but the environments all have one thing in common: They all have a lot of water!
Adaptations to Moist, Shady Environments
Humans (and other animals) need water to survive, but too much water can put our lives in danger. We stay safe by drinking healthy amounts of water. Our bodies tell us when we have had enough water, and we then stop drinking. Just like animals, plants can die from taking in too much water. But unlike animals, plants do not get to choose when they get water!
Water falls on the soil by a plant, and the plant’s roots absorb the water. Too much water can cause the roots of a plant to rot, and can cause the plant to lose its nutrients. This means it is important for the plant to get rid of the water quickly. How do plants do this?
In moist, shady environments, plants have adaptations for surviving in very wet environments. These adaptations include:
Buttress Roots. Buttress roots grow partially above the earth and help the plant stay upright. In wet environments, the ground can move around a lot! To help the plant stay in one place and not fall over, large roots grow above the earth. Buttress roots are an adaptation that help the plant grow tall in wet soil. Research note! Botanists today are doing research to find out if the buttress roots have another function. Some botanists hypothesize that the buttress roots trap dead plants and animals so that as they decompose, the underground roots can absorb the nutrients.
