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Plants need water and sun. But plants cannot walk. So plants have parts that help them. Roots go down into the dirt. Roots pull up water. Leaves are flat. Leaves catch sunlight. The stem holds the plant up. A cactus has small leaves. A water lily has wide leaves that float.

Plants need water and sunlight, but unlike animals, plants cannot walk to find them. Instead, plants have body parts that solve this problem. Roots grow down into the soil and pull up water. Leaves are wide and flat, which helps them catch sunlight. The stem connects the roots to the leaves and moves water between them. Different plants live in different places. A cactus has small leaves so it doesn't lose water in the dry desert. A water lily has wide leaves that float so it can catch sunlight on a pond.

Although plants depend on water and sunlight for survival, they are stationary — unlike animals, they cannot relocate to access either resource. To compensate, plants have evolved specialized structures. Roots extend underground, absorbing water and dissolved nutrients. Leaves possess a broad, flattened shape that maximizes surface area for capturing sunlight. The stem functions as a transport system. A plant's structures often adapt to its environment: a cactus, in arid conditions, has minimal leaves to limit water loss, while a water lily has wide floating leaves to maximize sunlight capture in its aquatic habitat.