What is tropism in plants? I don't get what a stimulus is also?

The stimulus (in the case of a plant) is most commonly light, it can also be temperature, water, nutrirents. Following is from the source site. Tropisms are directional movement responses that occur in response to a directional stimulus. Plants are not able to relocated if they happen to start growing where conditions are suboptimal. However, plants can alter their growth so they can grow into more favorable conditions, To do so requires the ability to detect where the conditions are better and then alter their growth so they can "move" in the appropriate direction. One of the most commonly observed tropic responses in plants is phototropism, in which plant stems grow towards light. As anyone who has grown plants near a window knows, the plants tend to lean towards the window where the light is usually stronger than inside the room. Another commonly observed tropic responses is gravitropism, where a plant will grow so that it stays oriented relative to the source of gravity (the ...  more