HAVE YOU EVER LIFTED UP A BOARD that has been lying on a lawn for a few weeks and noticed that the grass growing underneath was much paler and spindlier than the surrounding grass? The reason this happens is that the board is opaque, keeping the underlying grass in darkness. Seedlings grown in the dark have a pale, unusually tall and spindly appearance. This form of growth, known as etiolated growth, is dramatically different from the stockier, green appearance of seedlings grown in the light (Figure ). Given the key role of photosynthesis in plant metabolism, one might be tempted.
