Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Growth or movement of a sessile organism in response to gravity, as the downward growth of plant roots.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology, botany a plant's ability to change its growth in response to gravity.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[gravi(ty) + –tropism.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

gravi- +‎ tropism

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Examples

  • The modest light gradient experienced by the tree is counteracted by a continuous gravitational influence, known as gravitropism, which guides plant growth upward.

    Scientific American 2009

  • The modest light gradient experienced by the tree is counteracted by a continuous gravitational influence, known as gravitropism, which guides plant growth upward.

    Scientific American 2009

  • A team of biologists from the University of California, Riverside has used chemical genomics to identify novel compounds that affect the ability of plants to alter their direction of growth in response to gravity, a phenomenon known as gravitropism.

    NASA Watch: Keith Cowing: March 2005 Archives 2005

  • Phototropism is a plant's growth response to a direct light source and gravitropism is its growth in response to gravity.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Phototropism is a plant's growth response to a direct light source and gravitropism is its growth in response to gravity.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Joining forces: The interface of gravitropism and plastid protein import.

    SpaceRef Top Stories 2010

  • (Strangely, plants use the gene as part of their system for sensing gravity, called gravitropism.)

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • (Strangely, plants use the gene as part of their system for sensing gravity, called gravitropism.)

    Analysis 2010

  • (Strangely, plants use the gene as part of their system for sensing gravity, called gravitropism.)

    EurekAlert! - Breaking News 2010

  • (Strangely, plants use the gene as part of their system for sensing gravity, called gravitropism.)

    EurekAlert! - Breaking News 2010

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  • Charles Darwin was one of the first to scientifically document that roots show positive gravitropism and stems show negative gravitropism. That is, roots grow in the direction of gravitational pull (i.e., downward) and stems grow in the opposite direction (i.e., upwards).

    June 24, 2015