MadSci Network: Botany
Query:

Re: Are there any plants that can grow completely in the dark?

Area: Botany
Posted By: Hurley Shepherd, Agricultural Research, USDA Southern Regional Center
Date: Wed Feb 26 12:09:24 1997
Message:
Plants normally use light to produce food via photosynthesis.  Plants also use
cues from the amount and type of light to control developmental processes
(such as production of pigments, germination, flowering, etc).  Most plants
can be induced to live in the dark if given a source of carbon (such as
sucrose, a sugar) in their water.  However, the plants probably won't develop
normally if kept totally in the dark.  

Among naturally occurring plants, two immediately come to mind which do not
need light for food production.  One is a saprophyte (feeds on dead plant
material) called Indian pipes  and grows in woodlands.  It looks like a
fungus but has flowers!  Another is a parasite called dodder which also has
no green color because it gets nourishment from living plants.  I saw both of
these plants during a trip to the North Carolina mountains, but they are widely
distributed.  I have also worked with a single-celled plant called Chlamydomonas
which can grow in the dark if given a carbon source, and even turn green, since
it has a light-independent chlorophyll synthesis pathway.  

So there are plants which can grow without light, but even they probably will
need some light to develop normally.     

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