Unlike the more primitive plants, seed-making plants have stems, leaves and often roots and flowers as well. 700 of them are plants called gymnosperms - that is, conifers and cycads. All the rest are flowering plants or angiosperms. Roots Root vegetables may grow their bulk underground, but they are not always roots. Beetroot and carrot are true roots, but potatoes are tubers, which are underground stems, and onions are bulbs, which are underground leaves.
Roots are the parts of a plant that grow down into soil or water.
They anchor the plant in the ground and absorb all the water and minerals it needs to grow. In some plants, such as beetroot, the roots also act as a food store. When a plant begins to grow, the seed sends out a single primary root, which quickly branches out into secondary roots, protected by loose cells called root-caps as they probe through the soil. With some plants, such as grasses, there are dozens of fine roots spreading out in all directions. These are called fibrous roots.