Special tissue in aquatic and wetland plants that has large air spaces, allowing the plant to store oxygen and float.
From Greek 'aer-' (air) plus 'enchyma,' related to 'enchein' (to pour in). The term was created in the 1800s by botanists studying plant anatomy.
Water lily stems are basically hollow tubes filled with air pockets (aerenchyma)—this lets the stems stay light enough to float while the leaves bask in sunlight!
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