• Question: can any plant grow in total darkness?

    Asked by wookiee to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 19 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      this is very much a question an experimental plant scientist would ask! feel free to try it!

      the seeds of plants begin growing in very very dark soil underground, but this is not quite “total darkness), you’d be surprised how far the light can reach through the soil. The plants push towards the light, because once they get there they can make the most of the light.

    • Photo: Sarah Harvey

      Sarah Harvey answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      I don’t know of any plants that can grow in total darkness for a long period of time. Most plants won’t die immediately though, and there are some plants which like shady conditions.

      However someone in my lab is working on plant cells in culture, where instead of a whole plant she has plant cells which grow in a flask in an incubator (these cells can be regenerated to a whole plant with a bit of work I think!). Her cells are grown in total darkness which is because they have different ways of obtaining nutrients but she has to feed them a lot!

    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      I’m sure there are a lot of scientists who are interested in this. Photosynthetic plants (green ones) need light to survive. However as already mentioned seeds need dark to germinate – and they need periods of light and dark to regulate themselves – plants would die if always in the light!

      Some plants have interesting lives though. Rafflesia is a flower which grows completely hidden inside another plant so probably in the dark. It only bursts into the light to attract pollinators, which is done using smell. Maybe rafflesia would live in the dark completely. Unfortunately it is rare to find m&s it STINKS so I don’t think scientists really like researching it.

    • Photo: Amelia Frizell-Armitage

      Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Any plant that needs to photosynthesise cannot grow in complete darkness as it needs light in order to produce energy. Some plants such as mosses and liverworts can grow in very low light levels, and are often found in the entrance to caves, but these plants still do receive some light.

      It would be fantastic if we could invent a plant that could grow without light though, as this would mean we could grow plants ANYWHERE! Some bacteria are what we call chemotactic, they produce energy from chemicals they find in their environment. If we could make a plant that did this then we would be able to grow these without light!

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