The will to live. And some basic botany?

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This is a picture of my first balcony sunflower as of yesterday morning. This is the one whose stem was broken in two places by the wind. I suppose my brain is always looking for metaphor or symbolism (or irony). In this case, my first thought was: Wow, all living things fight to survive, and to survive into the next generation. My second thought was that sunflowers must be "designed," whether by God or Nature, to pass nutrients to the flowers themselves, even if the plants are damaged. I thought back to high school biology and remembered the fancy terms "xylem and phloem." It must follow that these "pathways" continue to operate even if damaged. I'm going Google them (xylem and phloem) now and relearn which brings nutrients and water UP the plant, and which brings (something) DOWN. Do you remember these fancy terms from high school biology? Update: OK, the xylem is unidirectional and brings water and nutrients up from the soil to other parts of the plant. The phloem is bidirectional, and distributes nutrients, including sugar and amino acids, "from leaves to storage organs and growing parts of plant."