Water up, Water down

Verse 1

Water up, water down, water all around

A plant has water everywhere when water’s in the ground.

Xylem up, phloem down, roots and leaves abound

With water up, water down, water all around.

Verse 2

Plants in a lake or in the ocean blue

Need water up, water down for buoyancy, too.

But plants on land gotta worry ‘bout the heat

And how they’re gonna stand without any feet

Verse 3

Ya gotta have water for to make your food

If you’re green and you’re sessile and it never gets chewed.

There’s a wealth of CO2 and the sun is shining through

But ya gotta have water if ya’ll ever say you grew.

Verse 4

A few root hairs and a fungus on the side

Increase the surface area that’s able to provide

Water to the root, steele and the cambium.

Continue up the xylem into the plant stem.

Verse 5

Then on to the branches and smaller branches still

Maybe out to the buds where the petioles will

Carry water further up to the leaves in the air.

Mesophyll cells do photosynthesis there.

Verse 6

Some water transpires through the stomata holes

If the leaf has enough that turgor pressure holds

So the water is continuous in every tissue found

It’s water up, water down, water all around.

Reprise verse 1

Water up, water down, water all around

A plant has water everywhere when water’s in the ground.

Xylem up, phloem down, roots and leaves abound

With water up, water down, water all around.