"Plants, however, develop in a much more flexible way. Because they can’t move, they have no choice but to adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves. Rather than having a defined structure as an animal does, plants make it up as they go along. Whether they grow deeper roots or a taller stem depends on the balance of chemical signals from other parts of the plant and nearby plants, as well as light, temperature, water and nutrient conditions.
Critically, unlike animal cells, almost all plant cells have the capacity to create new cells of any type the plant needs. This is why a gardener can grow new plants from cuttings, with roots sprouting from what was once a stem or leaf."
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190701-why-plants-survived-chernobyls-deadly-radiation
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I read something along a similar line about funghi the other day. Scientists have discovered mycilium which can digest oil and radioactive material and convert to carbon energy usable by plants. One company has even started to experiement with using mycilium to 'eat' oil spills. Bloody amazing.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2019-04-08/mushrooms-clean-up-ou...