Rice, with a side of weaponry

Plants are master strategists. Even the staples on our plates include quiet assassins, stealthy amphibians. Take a look

- Swetha Sivakumar

We tend to think of the plant kingdom as passive, and the animal kingdom as the aggressive one.

The truth is, plants are master strategists. Even the staples on our dinner plates, from rice and rye to barley, maize and quinoa, have a range of hidden skills.

Imagine, for instance, being locked underwater and needing to breathe. That's the everyday challenge for certain varieties of rice. Most plants would suffocate ina flooded field. Paddy, particularly susceptible to weeds, evolved to flourish in such conditions instead, since the standing water suffocated weeds and left them with less competition for nutrients in the soil.

Over time, paddy evolved a special tissue called the aerenchyma, which is made up of tiny air tunnels that run from its above-water leaves to its submerged roots.