Can Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage be real?
USA, Nov 2: Is it possible to recreate Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage for a ride? A curious scientist, Jessica Savage, studied about how certain pumpkins grow so massive. She studied the Atlantic giant pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima). A fruit is formed by transport of water, sugar and other nutrients in a plant. Giant pumpkins need a lot of water and sugar and that too very fast. They grow from seed to fruit in 120 to 160 days. During peak growth period they gain 15 kilograms every day. She found that the plants don’t produce more sugars and their xylems and phloems don’t work any differently from that of other plants.
It is just that they have more transport tissue – this extra xylem and phloem help the stem pump more food and water into the fruit, leaving less for the rest of the plant. They grow wide but don’t get very tall since gravity keeps them grounded (Xylems are vessels that transport water from roots to other parts of the plant ; Phloems are vessels that transport sugar from leaves to the fruit and roots.)
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