The Greening of the Volcano Volcanic eruptions can obliterate plant life, but the devastation is only temporary. Within a year of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, plant life had begun to repopulate the hillsides. Although no one species of the 265,000 species of plants can be considered typical, the focus here is on angiosperms. The shoot system consists of stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. Water, minerals, and organic substances are transported.
Stems are frameworks for upright growth and to display flowers.
Parts of the system store food. The root system usually grows below ground. It absorbs water and minerals from soil and conducts them upward. The ground tissue system makes up the bulk of the plant body. The vascular tissue system contains two kinds of conducting tissues that distribute water and solutes through the plant body.