Why do some plants produce water and others produce oil?

Question

You mash up a carrot and orange water comes out, but you mash up an olive and it produces oil, as does rapeseed and sunflower nuts. What is the basic difference?

Answer 1

Your question it self has the answer.

Olives, rape seeds and sunflower seeds contain (so also many other seeds) oils because then they can remain stable or dormant over a long period.

The growing vegetative parts contain water as it is required for growth.

Answer 2

I'm not sure there is one single reason for this, but here's a possibilitiy - a carrot is a tuberous root, while the others are seeds. Tubors are one way a plant can soak up large amounts of water and store it so the plant has water during drought - oils would not help with this. Seeds contain oils or other nutrients mainly for two reasons: one is to create a fertilizer for the seed when it falls, and the other is to attract birds or some other animal so they can eat the seed and spread the plant. There are probably other reasons as well, but that's all i can think of.

Answer 3

This is a pretty straight-forward one. It's all to do with the weather where the plants originally come from. Things like olives and pine trees and other resinous plants come from places where there isn't an awful lot of rainfall. Either because it's too hot, like in the case of olives and other Mediterranean plants like lavender or because it's too cold, as in the case of pine trees and the like
The plants make oil in their leaves to minimise water loss and also to make them taste unpleasant to passing grazing animals. Ever tried to eat a lavender leaf? They also tend to have very small leaves that we call needles (Christmas trees) which also minimises evaporation from the leaf surface.

They have several other water saving tricks but that's not what you asked about so I'll leave those, for now.

When it comes to carrots however, you're talking about something very different. A carrot (the bit that you eat) is the plant's fleshy root and is specifically designed to store water so that's why it's full of it. The leaves of the plant though, which is the bit that comparable to pine tree needles etc, don't have oil in them because they come from somewhere which has plenty of water, so they don't need to preserve it.

When it comes to olives themselves and things like sunflower seeds and rapeseed, the clue is in the name really. They're seeds and they're full of oil presumably to preserve them until they can germinate...but don't quote me, I'm guessing on that last point.

I hope that helps a little for you.

Happy Chrimbo to you.

Love Sam.
xxxx

Answer 4

All plants contain oils and water. Different parts of the plant hold different things. Seeds or seed pods (olives) commonly contain oils. Roots (carrot) always have some water.

Answer 5

All plants give off CO2 and H2O during respiration. Yes, they take in CO2 and H2O for photosynthesis. Many plants store water, like celery and of course cactus. Others store food as oil, like corn oil, soy bean oil, olive, safflower. Generally it is the seeds that have the oil. stems and fruits seem to have the water.The difference is the part of the plant that is ground up, and the type of plant.

Answer 6

the answer is that all plants produce/contain oil, and all plants hold water, it is the ratio of water to oil that determines how oily they are, or rather the perceived oilyness

most plants contain about .3 to 2% oil in their roots, stems and leaves....but in the seeds the % of oil can be much higher, up to 30%

there are high oil producing plants in various parts of the earth, even in rainforests, northern prairies and tropics, they are a product of evolution, they exist because of magic

Answer 7

its ,,similar to the difference between a big boobs chic & falt chested girls,,,,,,