Plant Hormone

What Does Plant Hormone Mean?

Plant hormones are chemicals in plants that regulate cellular processes. They are usually found in small amounts throughout the plant. These hormones are very important as they determine many different attributes of a plant. Plant hormones can be natural or synthetic.

Plant hormones are also known as phytohormones.

Maximum Yield Explains Plant Hormone

Plant hormones play a crucial role in plant biology as they determine a wide variety of a plant's characteristics. These characteristics include physical appearance such as the formation of leaves, flowers, and stems, development of fruit, and lifespan. Plant hormones are not only found in higher plants, but are found in simple forms of plant life such as algae.

The five major plant hormones are auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, and ethylene. These hormones will work independently or together to influence plant growth and health. Auxins and gibberellins help promote plant growth, particularly in stem elongation. Cytokinins promote cell division and are produced in growing areas of plants. Abscisic acid plays a role in cell dormancy and is involved in the opening and closing of the stomata on leaves. Finally, ethylene is a gas that is produced by ripening fruits.

Ethylene is one particular hormone that is often synthetically produced so gardeners can purposefully ripen fruits of many plants at the same time.