ELi5: Can plants be “overweight” if they produce too much food in the similar fashion to how animals gain weight if they eat too much food?

Question

When animals eat too much food, they gain weight. What happens to a plant that produces too much food via photosynthesis? Can plants be overweight?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Not exactly overweight, but plants can grow so much they hurt themselves. The example I’m familiar with is Bradford pear tree. They tend to have too many branches angled too close together. As they grow it literally starts to push the tree apart making it very susceptible to storm damage