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4. Storage of Food: In onion the fleshy leaves or scales of onion store water and food
in them. Fleshy and succulent leaves of desert plants always store some water and
food in them.
5. Vegeta ve Propaga on: Leaves of some plants produce buds on them. These buds
can grow into new plants.
How does Leaf make food?
Leaves make food by the process of Photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the act of
making food from water, carbon dioxide, energy from the sun and nutrients from the
soil. Plants are the only organisms in the natural world that make their own food.
Chlorophyll makes this energy transforma on possible. Leaves also make the oxygen
in the air that we breathe.
Chlorophyll is a pigment found in the cells of leaves which is
formed only in the presence of light and is the substance that
colours plants green. Chlorophyll is contained in chloroplasts
and has the property of capturing light energy.
The light energy is trapped by the chlorophyll. In the leaves, a
process that uses water changes the light energy into a kind of
a chemical energy. This chemical energy is stored in the
leaves.
The leaves use the chemical energy to make food. Air enters the leaf through the
stomata and moves into ny spaces around the food-making cells in the leaf. Carbon
dioxide from the air passes through the cell walls and membranes of the cells. Carbon
dioxide enters the chloroplasts where the previously stored chemical energy converts
the carbon dioxide into sugar.
Tubes in the plant carry sugar from the leaf cells to other parts of the plant, such as
roots, stems, and fruits. Cells in these parts of the tree store some of the sugar.
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