MadSci Network: Botany |
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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