Eli5: if house plants die from too much water, how does plants like seaweed survive?
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seaweed and houseplants are different because they live in different environments. Seaweed lives in the water, so it can take in a lot of water easily because it’s surrounded by it. It also has special structures that help it absorb water.
On the other hand, houseplants live on land, where there is not as much water around them. They have roots that absorb water from the soil, but they can only take in a limited amount at a time. They also need to balance how much water they take in, so they don’t get too much or too little. That’s why houseplants need to be watered regularly by us humans to make sure they stay healthy.
So, seaweed can take in a lot of water because it lives in the water, while houseplants have to be a bit more careful with how much water they get because they live on land.
Evolution. House plants evolved (or were bred) needing a specific amount of water, based on their locale. Seaweed evolved to survive under water. Same way some animals can survive in the middle of the desert surviving off of as little as what water is just in the air, where other animals need to be in an area with lots of streams or lakes.
Seaweed evolved to live in the sea houseplants didn’t. In addition sea water has salt in it which alters the balance of the problem, excess salt water needs to be balanced out by osmotic pressure measures in seaweed, different but related measures would be needed in fresh water.
Seaweed isn’t actually a plant like houseplants. It’s an algae. They aren’t to closely related to each other, this is kinda like asking why fish don’t need to breathe but cats do. Seaweed evolved in water and is adapted for it. Go houseplants evolved on land and are not adapted to it.
With plants, the roots don’t get enough oxygen when in water and don’t work properly. Algae doesn’t have roots so that’s not an issue. For true aquatic plants, the roots are structurally different and allow oxygen to flow within the plant better.
If people can drown, how do fish survive in water?
Houseplants and seaweed are very different, like humans and fish.
Because they’re different plants. “Plants” is the same type of category as “animals”.
**This is like asking “if rabbits die when you drop them from 100 ft in the air, how can birds fly?”**
Obviously, the answer to that one is because “animals” aren’t all the same. Some animals can fly, some can swim, some can live in freezing cold, some can live in desert heat. Each species of animal is adapted over millions of years to survive in its own environment.
Well, “plants” is the same kind of thing! It’s a huge broad category just like “animals” is. Some plants require a little bit of water, because they adapted to live in places with little water. Other plants can live fully underwater, because they adapted to live in water. If you try to make seaweed live in air it dies, if you make a rosebush live underwater it dies too. Heck, some plants [don’t even need soil](https://gardentherapy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/DIY-Air-Plant-Stand_0004.jpg)!
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