the.com/geotropism
Plants always know which way is down, even in the dark, even underground.
means The tendency of a plant (or its roots and shoots) to grow in a particular direction in response to gravity — roots down, stems up.
from Built from Greek geo- 'earth' and tropos 'turn, direction' (the same -tropism found in heliotropism and phototropism). The term entered scientific use in the 1800s as botanists catalogued how plants bend and orient themselves in response to outside forces — gravity being one of the most reliable, since it never stops pulling, light or no light.
- roots vs shoots
- roots grow toward gravity, shoots grow away
- sensor
- starch grains called statoliths settle like tiny plumb bobs
- also called
- gravitropism, the more scientifically fashionable name
- space test
- plants on the ISS still grow oddly directional without gravity