The advance of plants to land was accompanied by a number of aromorphoses (qualitative evolutionary changes), one of which was the emergence of differentiated organs - shoots and roots. These are the vegetative organs of plants, participating in all the most important vital processes of the body except for sexual reproduction (generative organs are responsible for it). Their main functions are nutrition and metabolism with the outside world. Plant life simultaneously in two environments - the atmosphere and the lithosphere - is associated with the need to develop both soil and air. Special organs interact with each of these media.
The vegetative organs of higher plants are divided into underground (roots) and aboveground (shoots). With the help of the root, plants are fixed in the soil, absorb moisture and nutrients from it, accumulate them and transport them to the shoot, and in some cases carry out vegetative propagation. Modified roots include root tubers (Jerusalem artichoke, dahlia), root crops (beets, carrots), props (pandanus, banyan), aerial roots (orchid), respiratory roots (taxium), sucker roots (ivy). Initially, these vegetative organs were intended for mineral nutrition, but in some cases they perform the most unusual functions. The aerial roots of some orchids store atmospheric moisture, while they perform a respiratory function in taxodium. In many epiphytes, they hang in the air, due to the presence of chlorophyll, they have a green color and are involved in photosynthesis.
The main function of escape is carbon nutrition. Unlike the root, it is a complex organ consisting of separate interconnected parts - the stem, leaves and buds. In this regard, the escape is sometimes considered as a special system, including separate, but interconnected parts. In some sources, one can even find the statement that the stem, leaves and buds are also the vegetative organs of plants. Shoots are vegetative (covered with leaves) and generative (bearing leaves, flowers and fruits).
The base of the shoot is the stem, which communicates between the roots and the leaf apparatus, supports the generative organs and carries out the transport of water and the nutrients dissolved in it. Sometimes the stem is involved in vegetative propagation, and at a young age - and in photosynthesis. The leaf performs the functions of photosynthesis, transpiration, gas exchange, storage of substances and vegetative propagation. A kidney is an embryonic shoot.
During ontogenesis (individual development), the vegetative organs of plants can undergo profound transformations in the structure (metamorphoses). This may be due to the specific features of the climate, for survival in which some parts of the plants change their initial functions. For example, in arid habitats, leaves of many species turn into spines or scales to reduce the evaporation surface. In stem succulents (African milkweed, cacti), the fleshy stem is a water-storage and photosynthetic organ on which shortened shoots with tufts of thorns grow in the axils of undeveloped leaves. Insectivorous plants (rosolist, pemphigus, sundew) have leaves transformed into real traps that capture insects in a passive or active way. In some vines (passiflora, grapes) aboveground shoots are transformed into climbing organs (tendrils) - this is also a metamorphosis.
The vegetative organs of plants participate in asexual reproduction, which consists in the formation of a young organism from any part of the parent. This method of reproduction is ubiquitous in the wild and is actively used in crop production. In this case, both specialized organs (rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, stolons) and non-specialized (stems, leaves) are used.
In lower plants, their entire body is vegetative organs, for example, mycelium of the fungus.