Category Botany

You may think there is not much you can do to help save plants. But there are lots of things you can do. When you go on a hike, stay on the path. Leaving the path harms the plants.

Sometimes you can help plants by not doing things. Do not pick or dig up wild flowers and other plants. Even though some are still plentiful, others are becoming rare. Enjoy wild flowers by taking pictures, or by drawing them. Buy seeds gathered in national parks or from seed companies. Then other people can enjoy the wild flowers, too.

Remind grown-ups to be very careful with campfires or outdoor cooking. Make sure that fires are out completely before you leave the area. If the weather has been very dry, don’t build fires at all. And when you leave camp, take all your rubbish with you to a litter bin.

Don’t break off limbs or peel bark from trees. The outside bark protects a tree from harmful insects and fungus. The inner bark moves food from the leaves to the roots. Peeling off a tree’s bark or breaking off its limbs can kill the tree.

You can help save trees by recycling. Many communities have recycling programmes. This means that used paper is picked up and taken to factories that use it to make new paper. Your family can recycle junk mail, old magazines, boxes, cereal boxes, toilet paper tubes, and even the tags from teabags.   

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People are working together in many ways to save the world’s plants.

Some people work directly with plants. Growers trade seeds with one another to help a species’ chances to survive. They also grow endangered plants in greenhouses. Then they replant the plants in the wild. Sometimes, people build fences around rare plants in the wild to keep away animals that may eat or trample them.

Many groups work to protect plants. These include the United Nations, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). They inform governments and people about endangered plants and raise money to help save them.

Many governments have passed laws to protect plants. These laws protect endangered plants and animals from hunting, collecting, and other activities that could harm them or their communities. Many countries also have signed an agreement called CITES. By signing this agreement, they promise not to buy or sell endangered plants or animals, or products made from them.

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The forest rangers are worried. The weather is hot and there has been no rain for a long time. They know the forest is as dry as dust. It would take only a tiny spark or a lightning strike to turn the whole forest into a roaring, raging sea of fire.

From their watchtower high above the trees, the rangers see a thin spiral of smoke. Fire! There’s a fire in the forest!

A quick call for help goes out. Firefighters rush to the blaze, in trucks. Working quickly, they battle the blaze with streams of water and shovelfuls of soil. They chop down trees and dig up the ground to keep the fire from spreading.

Overhead, aeroplanes swoop over the fire, dropping water and chemicals on it. Other planes bring firefighters called smoke jumpers. They parachute into places that the firefighters on the ground can’t reach.

At last, after many hours or sometimes many days, the fire is out. Thousands of trees have been saved. Thousands of trees have been destroyed.

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Imagine a world in which most of the trees are dead, where leaves and flowers are spotted with disease, and fruits can’t grow. It wouldn’t be a very nice world. But many scientists fear that’s what our world may be like someday – if we don’t do something now about air pollution.

Air pollution begins when gases from cars, factories, lawn mowers, and burning wood enter the air. Acid rain forms when certain chemicals from air pollution rise up and mix with the water in the clouds.

The rain or snow that falls from these polluted clouds harms the leaves of trees. The trees slowly lose their leaves and die. Acid rain also soaks into the soil and damages plants and crops. Many of the world’s forests – especially the pine forests of northern Europe – are suffering from the effects of acid rain.

Air pollution is a very serious problem. But scientists and many other people are working very hard to clean up the air and keep it clean, for the sake of all the world’s people and plants.

Vanishing Tropical Rain Forests

Everywhere in the world people are taking over more land. In tropical rain forests, parts of the forest are cut down and burned to make room for crops. After a time, the soil in these parts is no longer good for growing crops. Then the people move on to another place. It is hard for new plants to grow in the poor soil. Without plants and trees, the soil that is left washes away.

People also destroy tropical rain forests to get timber. The trees that grow in these forests provide valuable wood. Every day, in many countries, people are cutting down trees that have taken years and years to grow.

In the world’s biggest tropical rain forest, the Amazon rain forest in South America, people are building a giant motorway. Trees are being cut down to build the motorway. When the road is finished, more people will travel into the rain forest. This may lead to even more destruction.

The world’s tropical rain forests are home to many kinds of rare animals. They may have lived there for many thousands of years in the safety of the trees. But now the tropical rain forest is disappearing fast. Scientists believe that some rain forest animals will die out even before they have been discovered!

Threats from People

People are a plant’s worst enemies. This is mainly because people want or need things that can be made from plants.

Many kinds of plants are becoming rare because of their beauty. People often dig these plants up and take them home. The beautiful flowers of orchids and some cactuses have made them targets for collectors. The rare Cooktown orchid of Australia, though protected, is picked by collectors.

Great numbers of palm trees are destroyed for their stems, which are made into furniture, and for their fruit. Hundreds of types of palms are endangered today.

People kill many plants for use in medicines. The Pacific yew was once the source of a drug that doctors use to treat cancer. But getting the drug threatened these trees so much that researchers found other ways of making the drug.

People kill plants when they develop land. Lots of land is used for building. Even more is changed into farmland or grazing land for cattle and other animals. As the population increases, people build more roads, houses, factories, mines, shopping centres, and car parks.

But plants need their own special place to live in, too. They need the right kind of soil, the right temperature, and the right amount of rainfall. They need the right habitat. When habitats disappear, the animals that live there often disappear too. If we destroy too many natural habitats, we may lose many of the plants and animals in our lives.

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Threats from Animals

All over the world, plants are being destroyed by animals. Sometimes this is perfectly natural and is part of the balance of nature. Other times, it can be disastrous.

Insects such as caterpillars and grubs, which later become beetles, often eat leaves or burrow into the wood of trees. But sometimes, a nest of tent caterpillars eats all the buds or young leaves on a tree. When this happens, the tree will die.

Big problems also arise when people bring animals to areas where they don’t belong. Rabbits have destroyed valuable grazing land in Australia. They eat the grasses farmers need for their livestock. Rabbits were turned loose in 1859 by British settlers. But in Australia, rabbits have few natural enemies, so now there are too many rabbits.

In Hawaii, escaped pigs and goats have destroyed many rare plants. They trample the plants and eat the roots so the plants can’t grow back. Goats also may eat all the plants on a hillside. With no roots to hold the soil, rain can wash it down the hill. This loss of soil is called erosion and keeps plants from growing. Today, about half of Hawaii’s plants are either very rare, endangered, or already extinct.

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Plants can get sick, just as people can. Insects and other animals can chew plants until they die. Fire can turn them into a pile of ashes. Polluted air from cars and factories can choke the life out of plants. And when ground is dug up for new factories, houses, and car parks, plants lose the space they need to live.

Everyone depends on plants for beauty, food, and fresh air. So everyone needs to save them and care for them.

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Plants in Danger

Endangered plants need people’s help to survive. A species, or kind, of plant is endangered when it is seriously close to disappearing, or becoming extinct. Scientists think that as many as 20,000 different kinds of plants are endangered.

Rafflesia is one of the world’s most endangered plants because the rain forests in which it lives are being destroyed. The giant rafflesia has the largest flower in the world. It grows up to 90 centimetres wide, and it smells like rotten meat! The smell attracts the flies that pollinate the flower.

For many years, scientists believed that the Virginia round-leaf birch and a type of Australian elaeocarpus tree were extinct. Then, in 1975, a scientist found a group of round-leaf birches alive and well. Since then, people have worked to protect the round-leaf birch.

In 1992, scientist discovered that elaeocarpus trees were still alive, too, growing in the rain forest of New South Wales. They have found more than 100 elaeocarpus trees in the wild since then.

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Taking Care of Forests

Forests, just like gardens, need care if they are to stay strong and healthy. People who take care of forests are called foresters. There are different kinds of foresters. Some foresters work for a government. They take care of national parks and forests so that people will have places for camping, sightseeing, hunting, and fishing.

Other foresters work in woods that are owned by timber and paper companies. They raise and care for the trees that are used to make houses, furniture, and paper.

All foresters protect trees from insects, animals, fires, and diseases. They make sure that unhealthy trees are replaced with young, healthy ones, and that the young trees grow up to be big, healthy trees. Foresters also plant new trees to replace trees that have been cut down.

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Names of Flowers

Did you ever wonder how some wild flowers got their names?

The daisy looks a little bit like an eye. And, like an eye, it opens up at the start of each day. So, long ago in England, people named it “day’s eye”. In time, the name became daisy.

The buttercup got its name because it looks like a tiny cup made of yellow butter. Long ago, people believed that butter was yellow because cows ate buttercups. But that’s not true. Butter does get its colour from what cows eat, but cows don’t eat buttercups.

Milkweed gets its name from the white juice that oozes from the stems when the plant is cut. The juice looks like milk. When the juice dries in the sun, it covers the cut like a rubbery bandage.

For years, people in different parts of the world have eaten the young, spring leaves of dandelions. They thought the jagged edges of the leaf looked like a row of teeth. So, long ago, the people of France gave the plant the name dent de lion, which means “lion’s tooth”. To the people of England, dent de lion sounded like dandelion, and that’s what they called the plant!

One plant that many cats love is called catmint! A cat that finds a clump of catmint may roll happily around among the leaves. Many cat owners give their pets balls or toys stuffed with dried catmint leaves.

Some people like catmint too, but not usually to roll around in. They drink it. They make catmint tea by putting dried catmint leaves into boiling water and adding a little honey.

World of Gardens

In every part of the world, people have a favourite kind of garden. In a formal garden, flowers are arranged in squares, circles, or fancy shapes. Bushes are often trimmed to points, squares, or balls. Garden paths are long and straight. In Japan, many gardens have little bridges in them. In India, gardens often have ponds filled with water lilies. Gardens in Hawaii may have many ferns. Gardeners in other parts of the world often copy these favourite gardens.

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A Scent Garden

One of the most wonderful things about plants is the way some of them smell. Lovely scents come from their flowers or their leaves.

The rose is a sweet-smelling favourite around the world. The sweet pea is a fragrant climbing plant. The tiny, white, bell-shaped lily of the valley has a strong perfume. Many people think that heliotrope smells like vanilla, apple, or cherry pie. One kind of cosmos smells like chocolate.

Fragrant flowering shrubs include the winter jasmine and the gardenia. The leaves of the myrtle plant have a spicy smell when crushed. Daphne and lilacs are also favorites.

A Rock Garden

If your garden has a sunny place that slopes a little, like a small hill, you can make a rock garden. It should look like a tiny bit of mountainside, where small, bright flowers grow among the rocks.

First, bring rocks to the slope. Scoop out shallow holes for them. Put the biggest rocks at the bottom. Put the smaller stones higher up on the slope. Place some of them close together and some further apart. At least half of each rock should be buried in the soil.

Finally, plant small ferns and flowering plants between the rocks. Use plants that won’t grow more than 30 centimetres high.

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A Butterfly Garden

It’s hard to imagine anything prettier than the flashing colours of butterfly wings in a sunny garden. You can grow a garden to attract butterflies by simply choosing the right plants.

Butterflies like to sip nectar, so colourful flowers that make a lot of sweet nectar attract them. Queen Anne’s lace attracts butterflies called black swallowtails. The perfume of sweet William, lavender, and heliotrope also will attract butterflies to your garden. Butterfly weed, sunflowers, and peonies are other butterfly favorites.

Butterflies also will come to a garden to lay their eggs on plants that their caterpillars like to eat. Milkweed is one of these plants. The caterpillar of the monarch butterfly eats milkweed. The caterpillar of the black swallowtail butterfly eats parsley. Several types of caterpillars feed on nettles and clover.

To welcome butterflies, you can put out large flat rocks for them to “sunbathe” on. You might also provide puddles of water where they can drink.

The Garden of Talking Flowers

Alice came upon a large flower bed with a border of daisies and a willow tree growing in the middle.

“O Tiger-lily”, said Alice, addressing herself to one that was waving gracefully about in the wind. “I wish you could talk!”

“We can talk,” said the Tiger-lily, “when there’s anybody worth talking to.”

Alice was so astonished that she could not speak for a minute. It quite seemed to take her breath away. At length, as the Tiger-lily only went on waving about, she spoke again, in a timid voice – almost in a whisper. “And can all the flowers talk?”

“As well as you can,” said the Tiger-lily. “And a great deal louder.”

“It isn’t manners for us to begin, you know,” said the Rose, “and I really was wondering when you’d speak! Said I to myself, ‘Her face has got some sense in it, though it’s not a clever one!”

Then Tiger-lily remarked, “If only her petals curled up a little more, she’d be all right.” Alice didn’t like being criticized, so she began asking questions. “Aren’t you sometimes frightened at being planted out here with nobody to take care of you?”

“There’s the tree in the middle,” said the Rose. “What else is it good for?”

“But what could it do, if any danger came?”

“It says, ‘Bough-wough!’” cried a Daisy. “That’s why its branches are called boughs!”

“Didn’t you know that?” cried another Daisy, and here they all began shouting together, till the air seemed quite full of little shrill voices. “Silence, every one of you!” cried the Tiger-lily, waving itself passionately from side to side and trembling with excitement. “They know I can’t get at them!” it panted, bending its quivering head towards Alice, “or they wouldn’t dare to do it!”

“Never mind!” Alice said in a soothing tone and stooping down at the Daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, “If you don’t hold your tongues, I’ll pick you!”

There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies turned white.

“That’s right!” said the Tiger-lily. “The daisies are worst of all. When one speaks, they all begin together, and it’s enough to make one wither to hear the way they go on!”

“How is it you can all talk so nicely?” Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. “I’ve been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.”

“Put your hand down and feel the ground,” said the Tiger-lily. ‘Then you’ll know why.”

Alice did so. “It’s very hard,” she said, “but I don’t see what that has to do with it.”

“In most gardens,” the Tiger-lily said, “they make the beds too soft – so that the flowers are always asleep.”

This sounded like a very good reason, and Alice was quite pleased to know it.

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Year-After-Year Flowers

Some flowers don’t have to be planted every year. You plant them just once and leave them in the ground. From then on, they bloom each year. Tulips, for example, have beautiful cup-shaped flowers that bloom each year. Lilies have blade-shaped petals and showy stamens.

Plants that bloom every year are called perennials. Many perennials grow from bulbs or from bulb-like parts called corms. Bulbs are underground buds. They are made up of a small stem covered with thick, fleshy leaves. Onions, tulips, and lilies grow from bulbs. Corms are very similar to bulbs, but their leaves are smaller and thinner. Crocuses and gladioli grow from corms.

Most bulbs and corms should be planted in the autumn. But the package they come in will tell you the best time to plant them.

Many perennials need protection during winter. The package your seeds or bulbs come in, or a gardening book, will tell you what to do for each kind.

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Did you know that every green plant on the earth is a kind of factory? Each one makes food from sunrise to sunset. As it produces food, a green plant gives off an invisible gas called oxygen.

Oxygen is a very important gas. People and animals must have oxygen to live. People and animals take in oxygen when they breathe. You might think that all the oxygen would soon be used up. It would be, if we didn’t have green plants! All day long, they put oxygen into the air.

People and animals give something back to plants, too. People and animals breathe out a gas called carbon dioxide. Plants need lots of carbon dioxide to make food for themselves.

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The forests of the world give us wood. Wood is used to make many things. The strong, beautiful wood of such trees as beech, oak, mahogany, teak, and walnut is used in building and to make fine furniture, musical instruments, and woodcarvings. Wood from pine, spruce, and cedar is used to make everything from houses and furniture to pencils.

Much of the wood harvested in the world is used in paper. Without paper, we’d have no print books, no cardboard, and no newspapers. Most paper is made from wood pulp. It takes the timber of thousands of trees to make the paper for just one edition of a large daily newspaper.

Wise foresters are careful to plant trees to replace those they cut down, but it’s important that people reuse and recycle as much paper as they can. Saving our waste paper could save a tree from the axe!

Baseball Bats and Hockey Sticks

Houses, tables, chairs, and floors, Rowboats, pencils, desks, and doors, Baseball bats and hockey sticks, Boxes for magicians’ tricks. Each and every one of these is made of wood that comes from trees.

Pants give us many of the products used to make clothing. Your favourite old sweatshirt may be made from soft cotton. The strong, waterproof soles of your shoes are probably made of rubber.

Cotton comes from the seed pods of a plant. When the pods are ripe, they look like fluffy balls. The fluff can be twisted into thread and then woven into cloth.

Flax and hemp plants have stringy fibres in their stalks. The stalks are dried and scraped, then combed into long strips that can be spun into thread. Flax fibres are woven into a fine cloth called linen. Hemp makes coarser material that is used to make carpets and rope.

Rubber trees are often grown in large forests called plantations. To get the rubber out of a tree, workers make slanting cuts in the bark. Juice called latex oozes out of the cuts and drips into a container underneath. The latex is taken to a factory and made into rubber.

It’s party time! The table is piled high with drinks and sweets, and all of them have come from plants.

Want some juice? Just about any fruit can be squeezed to make juice. Apricots, peaches, oranges, apples, grapes, guava, and passion fruit, even lemons – all these make delicious drinks. How about a fizzy drink? Cola is flavoured with kola nuts, which grow on a tropical tree.

Chocolate is made with beans from the cacao tree, which grows mainly in Africa. Coconut is the “meat” of the hard-shelled seeds of the coconut palm. Liquorice comes from the dried root of the liquorice plant. Vanilla comes from the fruit of the vanilla orchid.

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It makes good sense to use local materials when you’re building a house. People who live near a forest use wood from the trees growing there. The skilful people with bamboo nearby use bamboo for many building jobs.

Bamboo is really a kind of grass. It grows up to 37 metres high, with a trunk 30 centimeters across. Many farmers in Asia live in bamboo houses and keep their chickens and pigs in bamboo cages. They water their crops with pipes made from hollow bamboo stalks.

Bamboo also helps people make buildings. Strong bamboo rods make excellent lightweight platforms. Bamboo rods covered in concrete make a sturdy framework for buildings. In China, a group called the Dai build houses that stand on stilts out of wood and bamboo.

Water plants called rushes and reeds are also very important building materials in the areas where they grow.

Without plants, life wouldn’t be as tasty. Why? Because many of the flavours, spices, and sweeteners that make food taste good come from plants.

Sugar comes mainly from two plants, sugar beets and sugar cane. Sugar beets grow in most parts of Europe where the climate is quite mild. They are shaped like fat, white carrots. Sugar beets are shredded and cooked in water. The sweet liquid that results is made into sugar.

Maple syrup comes from sugar maple trees, which grow in North America. The sweetness is in the juice, or sap, of the trees. When holes are drilled in the tree, the sap flows out.

Nearly all the spices that make your tongue tingle also come from plants. Peppermint flavour comes from oil made from the leaves of the peppermint plant. Pepper is the dried, ground-up berries of a shrub. Cinnamon is the bark of a tree. Mustard is made from the ground-up seeds of the mustard plant, a little herb with yellow flowers.

Honey comes from plants, too. Bees make it from nectar they collect from flowers.

Fruits are really the seed packages of plants. People find lots of fruits delicious. Birds and other creatures think so, too.

Sometimes we eat the whole fruit, seeds and all, but if the seed is too big or tough, we remove it. It’s easy to eat the seeds of strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and tomato fruits. But people don’t eat the seeds of apples, cherries, peaches, and dates.

When you eat lima beans, peas, or lentils, you eat the seeds of fruits. When you eat green beans or French beans, you eat the whole pod, not just the seeds inside it.

Many flowers aren’t good to eat, but cauliflower and broccoli are delicious before they come into bloom. The flowers of nasturtiums and violets taste good and make salads even prettier!

Many years ago, a boy lived with his grandmother. Every day, the boy hunted and caught a bird. Every evening, his grandmother brought a basket of corn from the storehouse. Then she prepared dinner. One day, the boy glanced into the storehouse and saw it was empty. But that night his grandmother brought a basket of corn as usual. So the next evening the boy followed her to the storehouse. He saw her lean over the basket and rubs her hand along her body. Dried corn flowed into the basket.

Before the boy could run away, she saw him. “Now that you know my secret, I must leave you,” she said. “But hear me. When I die, clear a piece of land. Bury my body in that land, and I will be back to feed the tribe.”

That night, the boy’s grandmother died. In the morning, he cleared the land. As he pulled her body towards her burial place, small plants sprang up behind it. The boy tended the plants. Months later, they were as tall as a person. Their silky hair was like his grandmother’s. And the plants produced enough corn for the whole tribe.

What is your favourite food that is a leaf, stem, or root? Lots of plants are grown for their leaves. Lettuce grows in different shapes, from long and tall to round and fat. Lettuce leaves are popular in salads. Spinach leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. They’re full of minerals and vitamins.

Stems make good food, too. Celery stalks can be cooked or eaten raw. Rhubarb stems are delicious in pie. The potato is an underground stem vegetable.

You might think an onion is a root vegetable, but it isn’t. The part you eat is really leaves. Carrots, beets, and radishes are root vegetables. They grow underground. They are popular with people all over the world.

Plants of the Northern Forest Community

The huge northern forests are mostly spruces, firs, pines, and other conifers. These trees can live where the weather is really cold. Their needle-like leaves are tough enough to hold water through the long, dry winter. The wind blows through the needles without making the trees sway too much. The sloping shape of the trees allows heavy snow to slide off without breaking branches.

Not many small plants grow in the northern forests. The soil is too poor, and there is limited sunlight. But ferns, horsetails, mosses, a few kinds of wild flowers, and such shrubs as bunchberry and cranberry can survive there.

In the northern parts of the world, winters are long and cold and summers are cool. Northern lands are home to spruce, firs, and other conifers. These trees grow well in cold places.

Conifers grow close together in the northern forests. There are many ponds and lakes. Beavers, muskrats, moose, deer, and water birds live on the many plants that grow around the water. The lynx and the mountain lion are two big cats that live among the conifers.

In winter, it snows heavily in the northern forests. Many birds fly south. Squirrels and bears go to sleep. Other animals, such as elk, stay awake and active all winter. In spring, the snow melts and soaks into the ground. This gives the trees most of the water they need.

Conifers are able to live in many parts of the world. But they do best in cold, northern forest communities.

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Plants of Watery Communities

Water plants may grow partly in and partly out of the water. Freshwater plants such as cattails, bulrushes, bur reeds, and papyrus have tough roots that give them a firm grip in the mud. Saltwater plants that do this include cordgrass, sedges, and mangroves.

Water lilies and lotuses root themselves in the mud at the bottom of a pond and spread their plate-like leaves over the surface of the water. The leaves of the huge Amazonian water lily grow up to 1.8 metres across.

Other water plants, such as duckweed and frogbit, float on top of the water. Their roots hang down into the water. They do not have stems at all.

Still other water plants live completely underwater. Even plants that live underwater need air. Freshwater plants have special features that enable them to survive. These plants have air spaces in their stems. The air spaces carry air down through the stem to the roots. They also help keep the plant standing up straight in the water.

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There are two main types of water communities – freshwater and saltwater. Freshwater communities include ponds, lakes, rivers, and marshes. In summer, some ponds are so covered with plants that you can hardly see the water underneath. Saltwater communities are found along sea coasts. There, the tides rise and fall, so the plants are sometimes above water and sometimes underwater.

Plants that grow in and around watery places give food and shelter to many animals. Grebes and other water birds use these plants to make nests. Muskrats eat plants such as cattails and also use them for building houses. Frogs often fasten their eggs to water plants. When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles use the plants as food. Bass and other big fish hide among water plants. From these hiding places, they dart out to snap up careless frogs and small fish.

The grass on grassland may be short or tall, depending on how much moisture there is. Hardly any trees or bushes grow on grassland, but there are many small plants with white or coloured flowers.

In North America, grasslands with tall grasses are called prairies. In South America, they’re called pampas. Parts of North America once had prairies where the grasses grew 1.8 metres tall or even taller.

In Africa and Australia, the grassland is quite dry and the grasses are short. In Africa, there are savannas that have scattered trees and clumps of grasses. Australian grassland is covered with tough Mitchell grass and kangaroo grass. Acacia bushes grow among these grasses. In Argentina, central Asia, and Russia, grasslands called steppes also have short grasses.

Many grassland plants have special features that help them survive dry conditions. Soft hairs on their leaves and stems help them hold water. Their roots spread out far and wide so they can collect water when rain falls.

Grasses don’t need as much water as trees and bushes do. So grasses grow well in wide, open places that are too dry for most trees but not dry enough to be deserts. These places are like giant lawns. They are called grasslands.

Grasslands are special in another way. They sometimes burn up naturally – and this helps them stay healthy! The fire burns the plants to the ground. The ashes feed the new plants that replace them.

Most big animals that live on grasslands, such as zebras, eat grass. Most small animals, such as rabbits, eat plant leaves and seeds. There are also meat-eating animals, such as foxes, snakes, and in some places, lions and leopards. Many meat-eating birds, such as hawks, hunt on grasslands.

It’s hard for a hunted animal to hide in grassland. The ground is low and flat, and there are few trees or bushes. Many animals crouch near the ground. Some, such as rabbits and zebras, can save themselves by running fast or skilfully. Others dig tunnels in which to hide.

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Plants of the Temperate Forest Community

Temperate forests have many kinds of trees, shrubs, and other plants. They provide animals with shelter, food, and places to bring up their young. Broadleaf trees, such as oaks, maples, elms, lindens, beeches, and hornbeams, are the most important plants in these woodlands. Many smaller plants and shrubs grow on the forest floor. Wild flowers often cover the woodland floor in spring.

Do the trees where you live “change their clothes” during the year – from light green buds in the springtime, to dark green leaves in the summer, to reds, golds or purples in the autumn? If so, then they make up a temperate forest community.

Temperate means “mild”. Temperate forests grow where summers aren’t too hot and winters aren’t too cold, and where the ground gets just about the same amount of moisture all year. In spring, wild flowers bloom in a temperate forest. Then trees and bushes bud. Birds build nests. In summer, fruits and nuts grow and ripen. The woodland is filled with birds, squirrels, raccoons, and many other small animals.

In autumn, the leaves change colour. Most birds fly south for winter. Snakes, turtles, frogs, and many insects hibernate. So do some furry animals. But if the winter is mild, the animals stay active.

Fungi are living things that are a lot like plants. They grow almost everywhere in nature, including the air. They don’t move around, but they do reproduce. Scientists once called fungi “plants,” but fungi cannot make their own food. They get their food from dead plants and animals. So today, experts put these living things in a group of their own. Mushrooms, mould, and yeast are types of fungi.

Mushrooms and moulds grow from tiny cells called spores. Spores float on the air like dust. When a spore lands on bread or something else it can use as food, it begins to grow. It sends out many tiny threads. Some of these threads grow down, like roots. Others grow upwards, like stems. Bunches of these threads form the spots you see on mouldy fruit or cheese.

Yeast cells look like drops of jelly. They’re so tiny you can’t see them without a microscope. When a yeast cell takes in food, such as sugar, it swells up and splits into two new cells. Then, each new cell takes in food, swells up, and splits in two. Soon, there are millions of new yeast cells. People put yeast in bread dough to help make the bread fluffy.

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You probably know that many insects eat plants. But did you know that some plants eat insects? These plants include the sundew and the Venus’s-flytrap. They need to eat insects because their soil does not have enough food to help them grow.

The leaves of sundew plants are covered with little hairs. On each hair there is a drop of sticky liquid. These drops glitter like dew in the sunshine and attract insects. When an insect touches one of the drops, it is stuck! Then all the hairs slowly fold in around the insect. They push the insect down against the leaf. A juice oozes out of the leaf and digests the insect.

The leaves of the Venus’s-flytrap work just like traps. They can open and close like clam shells. Little “claws” surround the edge of each leaf, and tiny hairs grow on the inside. When a fly or other insect lands on a leaf and touches one of the hairs, the leaves quickly close like a trap. Then the plant digests its meal.

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If you think that all plants look and act alike, you’re in for a surprise. Plants come in more shapes and colours and live in more places than you can imagine. They have some unusual ways to get their food and water, too.

New Zealand has a plant that looks like a soft cushion. It’s called a cushion plant. It’s made up of thousands of tiny stems with millions of little leaves. The leaves are covered with tiny hairs. The stems are so close together that the plant looks like one big green cushion. In winter, the plant turns white, giving it a woolly look.

Some plants live by “stealing” food or water from other plants. When the dodder sprouts from the ground, it begins to grow towards the nearest plant. The dodder soon wraps itself around the other plant. It gets its food and water by sucking them out of the other plant. Mistletoe also gets its water this way. Mistletoe grows on many kinds of trees, with its roots sunk deep into the tree’s branches.

Some plants even move! They don’t actually get up and walk around, but they open and close, or fold and unfold. For example, if you touch the leaves of the sensitive plant, they will fold up suddenly and droop. Then, in a short time, they will unfold and straighten up again.

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Many kinds of berries and seeds are poisonous! People have died from eating mistletoe berries, yew berries, and castor beans. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, has green or black berries – both are dangerous! Never eat a berry, seed, or nut unless a grown-up says it is safe.

Some plants make you itch and burn if you touch them. You can avoid them if you know what they look like. Poison sumach has white berries that hang down. Poison ivy grows as a vine, with leaves in groups of three. That’s where the cautionary rhyme “Leaves of three, let it be” came from. Nettles have bristles that can make you itch.

Some of the most beautiful plants are poisonous. The oleander can sicken or even kill a person who eats it. Some plants have both poisonous and non-poisonous parts. Rhubarb stems are good to eat, but eating rhubarb leaves can make you very ill!

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Some plants live for only one year. These plants are called annuals. The seeds of annuals sprout in the spring. A new plant grows. The plant flowers and makes new seeds in summer. When winter comes, the plant dies, leaving seeds in the ground to germinate in spring.

Some plants seem to die when winter comes. Their leaves fall off and their stems look dry and lifeless. But in the spring they start growing again. These plants are called perennials. Perennial plants grow back year after year.

A biennial plant lives for two years. The first year, it grows leaves and shoots. As it grows, it stores food, often in a swollen root. When winter comes, the leaves and stems die. The next spring, the plant grows again. It flowers and makes seeds, using the food it had stored up the previous year. Then it dies.

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Have you ever seen firefighters using a fire hose? The hose looks stiff and fat while water is running through it. But when the fire is put out and the firefighters turn off the water, the empty hose is limp.

Many plants are something like a fire hose. As long as their roots keep pumping water, their stems and leaves stand up straight and stiff. But a plant loses water through its leaves. If the plant doesn’t get enough water to replace the lost water, it will soon flop over, just like an empty fire hose. Perhaps you’ve seen this happen to potted plants. They begin to droop when they need water.

Plants that live in deserts, where there is very little water; have special ways of collecting and storing water. For example, the roots of some cactus plants grow down deep or spread out very far to find water. Cactus plants store the water in their thick, fleshy stems. When there is no rain, they live off the stored water. 

The kinds of trees that are often used as Christmas trees are called conifers or needleleaf trees. They are called needleleaf trees because their leaves are thin and sharp, like needles. Pines, spruces, and redwoods are all conifers.

Most conifers are green all year. They are called evergreens. They don’t change colour and lose all their leaves at a certain time each year as deciduous trees do. Instead, they lose a few needles at a time, all year round.

Conifer needles are very tough. They don’t freeze in winter, and they don’t lose water as quickly as other kinds of leaves do. By holding on to the water they have, conifers stay alive and green all winter.

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Many broadleaf trees lose their leaves once a year and later grow new leaves. These trees are called deciduous trees. Oaks, maples, willows, and many other types of trees are deciduous.

In places that have cold winters and warm summers, most deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn. Leaves need water to stay alive and to make food. A tree gets water from the soil. But in winter, the water in the soil turns to ice. The roots can’t take in this frozen water. There is no water for the trees.

In late summer, the tree begins to prepare for winter. A thick layer grows where each leaf’s stem is attached to the twig. Water can no longer get into the leaves. The leaves dry up, fall to the ground, and die.

In springtime, the ground warms up. The ice melts. The soil is wet again. Then a tree’s roots start taking in water, and the tree grows new leaves.

But not all broadleaf trees are deciduous. In warmer parts of the world, broadleaf trees stay green all year. They are called broadleaf evergreens. They lose just a few leaves at a time. The eucalyptus, or gum, trees of Australia are broadleaf evergreens.

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Can you climb a maize plant or a tulip? Can you swing from a daisy? Of course not! But a tree is a different matter entirely.

Trees are tall, sturdy plants with woody stems called trunks. Branches grow from the trunk, usually quite far off the ground. It’s the trunk that makes a tree so strong. The trunk supports the tree.

The trunk also has several layers, each with an important job to do. Tree trunks are covered with a tough outer skin. Most trees have a hard, dry skin called bark. The bark protects the soft inside part of the tree. The next layer carries food made by the leaves to other parts of the tree. Next to this layer is the part of the trunk that makes the bark and new wood. Further inside is the wood. Some wood carries water around the tree. The inner wood helps support the tree.

In regions where trees make a new layer of wood once a year, the layers form a series of rings. After the tree has been cut down, each year’s layer of wood can be seen as a ring. A tree with 50 rings has lived for 50 years. The rings also reveal the tree’s life story. Narrow rings show that there was not much water or sunlight that year. Wider rings mean more water and sunlight were available, and more growth occurred.

Not all plants have to make seeds to grow new plants. Some plants can make copies of themselves without the help of another plant.

The good-luck plant grows new plants around the edges of its leaves.

If you plant a potato, a new plant will sprout from it! A potato is a tuber. New stems sprout from a tuber’s bud, called an eye.

The leaves and stems of some new plants grow out of underground buds called bulbs. Flowers such as lilies, tulips, and crocuses grow from bulbs. Onion and garlic plants have bulbs you can eat!

Some plants grow copies of themselves by sending off shoots. Mint and some kinds of grasses have underground stems from which new plants will grow. Strawberry plants produce stems called runners that grow sideways. New plants grow on the runners and root themselves wherever they touch the ground.

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Like all living things, plants start their lives, grow, reproduce, and die. These steps make up a plant’s life cycle.

A seed plant begins when a seed germinates, or sprouts. A tiny root bursts out of the seed’s shell and pushes down into the ground in search of water. A tiny stem pushes up through the soil in search of sunlight. A new plant soon pokes its head above the ground.

The plant grows. Its roots take in water. Its leaves make food. After a time, the plant is fully grown. Small plants may become fully grown in a few weeks or months. A huge tree may take hundreds of years or more.

When a plant is ready to reproduce, it makes flowers or cones. The flowers and cones make pollen and eggs. The pollen and eggs join. Then new seeds form. Some seeds will be eaten by animals. Others will land in a place where they cannot grow. But some seeds will find a spot where the soil, water, and temperature are just right. These seeds will germinate, and the life cycle will begin again.

When a plant grows old, it dies. Its roots, stem, and leaves become part of the soil.

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All seed plants have special seed-making parts. Most seed plants make their seeds inside flowers. The seed-making parts of a flower include long stalks. Some stalks have enlarged tips called anthers. Anthers make a golden dust called pollen. Other stalks have a sticky top called a stigma.

A seed starts to form when pollen from one flower falls onto the stigma of another flower of the same kind. The pollen travels down the stalk until it reaches a tiny egg. The pollen joins with the egg, which then grows into a seed.

Other seed plants make their seeds inside cones. There are two kinds of cones. One is small and delicate. It makes pollen. The other kind of cone is covered with wood scales and makes eggs. A seed starts to form when pollen blows from the delicate cones and lands on the scaly cones. The pollen and the eggs join. The scales close around the developing seeds. When the seeds are ripe, the scales open up again, and the seeds fall from the cones.

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Plants can’t move around. So how do you think they spread their pollen to make seeds? Most plants use the wind or animals to help them pollinate.

All grasses and many trees, such as hazels and birches, scatter their pollen on the wind. The anthers of these plants hang out of the flower so that a puff of wind can carry away the pollen. The stigmas of these plants also hang out of the flower. They can catch the pollen as it blows past.

Insects, birds, and bats help spread the pollen of some plants. The flowers of these plants attract the animals. Many such flowers are full of sweet-tasting juice called nectar that bees and other animals like to eat. Some flowers “advertise” their supply of nectar with strong scents and bright colours.

When an animal visits a flower to sip the nectar, pollen brushes off onto its body. Then, when it visits the next flower, the pollen on its body brushes off into that flower.

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A seed is a baby plant and a bundle of food all wrapped up in a package.

Different kinds of plants have different kinds of seeds. Some seeds are as big as a tennis ball. Others are smaller than a grain of sand. Some are round, some are flat, and some are long and thin. But in every kind of seed a baby plant, with its store of food, is waiting to grow.

In places that have cold winters, springtime is come-to-life time for seeds. Water from melting snow and spring rains sinks into the ground and soaks into the seed. The seed’s tough shell – the cover of the package – becomes soft. The food inside the shell swells up with water. Then the shell bursts open.

The baby plant pushes out. It uses its store of food to begin growing. A tiny root pushes down into the ground in search of water. A tiny stem grows up through the soil in search of sunlight.

As the plant grows, it uses its store of food. When it pokes its head above the ground into the sunshine, the plant begins to make its own food. It makes food out of sunlight, air, and water that its roots find.

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If a seed grew close to its parent, it probably would be in the shade. It could not get the sunlight it needs to grow. It would not have enough space to grow, either. Somehow, the seed must get to a place where it can grow. Luckily, seeds have many ways of doing this.

Some seeds, such as those of the maple tree, float on the wind. Their “wings” carry them a long way. Other seeds catch a ride with animals. When animals eat fruit, they eat the seeds along with it, and the seeds pass through the animal’s body. The animal may travel far before dropping the seeds. Other seeds, such as those of bur marigolds and cleavers, grow inside fruits that stick to things. They hitchhike on the fur of passing animals until they are brushed off.

Some fruits actually explode. Dry peapods split open, hurling their seeds in all directions. Touch-me-not plants have pods that fly open at the slightest movement. And the squirting cucumber shoots out seeds in a jet of liquid.

Plants have many different parts. Many have roots, stems, and leaves. All the parts work together to help the plant live and grow. Not every plant has all these parts, but most do.

Roots grow from the bottom of the plant down into the ground and spread out. Like sponges, roots soak up water and minerals for the plant. Roots are anchors too. By growing down and spreading out in the ground, they hold a plant firmly in place.

Stems support a plant’s leaves and hold them towards the light. Flowers grow from the stems. Water and minerals travel to the rest of the plant through tiny tubes in the stems. The trunk of a tree is a big stem.

Leaves make food for the plant. They use the energy of sunlight to change air, water, and minerals into sugar and starch. Leaves grow in many shapes and sizes. Some are broad and flat. Others are long and thin. Some leaves have smooth edges. The edges of other leaves are jagged or wavy. And some leaves look like needles or spines.

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Leaves don’t seem to do anything at all. But if you could become tiny enough to peek inside a leaf – you would have a surprise!

Sunlight comes into a leaf through the leaf’s skin. Inside, the leaves have a wonderful green substance called chlorophyll. The chlorophyll catches some of the sunlight that falls on the leaf. At the same time, air comes into the leaf through many tiny openings. And water moves up from the roots below.

Leaves are like little food factories. Using sunlight for energy, the chlorophyll changes water and a gas from the air into food for the plant.

Besides green, leaves have other colours, such as yellow and orange. In summer, the green chlorophyll covers the other colours. In the autumn, it sometimes fades. Then you see the other colours.

If someone asked you to name a plant, you might say, “a tree”. You’d probably think of many other green and leafy living things, too. But not all plants are green and leafy. Most are, but not all.

So what makes a plant a plant?

Plants usually spend their whole lives rooted to one place. They can’t move around like animals. Most plants produce seeds to make new plants.

Plants also have special kinds of cells. Plant cells have tough, thick walls made of cellulose. And most plants contain a special substance called chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll to make their own food with the help of water, air, and sunlight. Animals have no chlorophyll.

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Plants are divided into groups.

Almost all plants belong to the group called seed plants. They’re called seed plants because they make seeds that grow into new plants.

Most seed plants are flowering plants. Flowering plants make their seeds inside flowers. By far, most plants in the world are flowering plants. Other seed plants make their seeds inside cones. Cone-bearing plants are called conifers. These plants include such trees as pines, spruces, and firs. Plants called cycads and ginkgoes (also called maidenhair trees) also are cone-bearing plants. These types of plants have been around for millions of years.

Other plant groups use tiny cells called spores, not seeds, to make new plants. Spore-making plants include ferns, horsetails, and mosses.

Ferns have feathery leaves called fronds. Their spores form on the undersides of the fronds. Horsetails have tall, green stems with a cap on top. They have long, thin leaves. Moss grows like a soft, green furry coat on a tree trunk or a rock. Moss is made up of thousands of tiny plants growing very close together.

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          A tree is a large plant with a woody stem or trunk, covered with a layer of bark. There are two main groups of trees: broadleaves and the conifers. Broadleaved trees are flowering plants that produce fruits with seeds inside. Conifers produce cones, which carry seeds on the face of each of their scales.

          Many broadleaved trees are deciduous: their leaves drop in autumn, or, in hot countries, during the dry season. Some broadleaves and nearly all conifers are evergreen. Their leaves do fall, but not all at the same time. The palm tree, which grows in hot countries, is a different type of tree. It usually has no branches and only a few large leaves at its tip.

          Trees are a valuable resource. They give us fuel, timber, medicines, food, paper, rubber and even soap. Even more importantly, they take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen, so maintaining the balance of gases in the atmosphere.

HOW A TREE LIVES

          Like all plants, a broadleaved tree has roots and a shoot. The shoot is made up of a trunk (its stem) and branches bearing leave buds and flowers. The trunk holds up the tree while the branches and twigs spread out the leaves so that they receive as much sunlight as possible. The leaves themselves grow in a spiral pattern to avoid shading. Water (blue arrow) is drawn up from the soil to the leaves through the sapwood. The leaves use the water and sunlight, as well as carbon dioxide in the air to make food by photosynthesis. This food (red arrow) passes from the leaves to all other parts of the tree through the inner bark.

          At the base of the tree, a network of roots spreads outwards, anchoring it into the ground. Behind the root tips lie the root hairs which soak up water and nutrients from the soil. A large tree may take up several hundreds of litres of water every day.

A TREE’S YEAR

          As spring arrives, the buds of the horse chestnut tree open, the shoots lengthen and the leaves unfold. Flowers blossom, ready for pollination. In summer, the leaves are fully open. The fruits, made up of a spiny casing with a large seed or “conker” inside, ripen and fall to the ground. During autumn, the leaves turn brown as food drains from them into the trunk. A scar forms at the base of each stalk and the leaves fall off. In winter, the tree is protected by its waterproof bark. The buds, next year’s leaves and flowers, are covered by scales.

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SEEDS AND FRUITS

          After male pollen grains have been carried to the female parts of a flower, the male and female cells join and begin to develop into the baby plant. The flower parts are no longer needed and they shrivel away, to be replaced by the developing seeds in the seed-head. A seed is usually accompanied by a food store for its early growth, neatly packaged inside a casing. Some plants, like orchids, produce many thousands of tiny seeds. An ear of wheat is a head of wheat seeds or grains. We grind them up to make flour.

          Seeds have a better chance of growing if away from the parent plant. If they fall next to the parent, they would be in its shade and would also compete with it for soil nutrients. For these reasons, seeds have many ways of being spread far and wide.

FRUITS AND NUTS

          A fruit is the protective case around a seed. Some fruits are very light, like the feathery “parachutes” of the dandelion. They blow away in the wind. Some fall into water and float to a new place, like the coconut. A nut has an especially tough outer case. Animals may crack some nuts and eat the seeds within, but they also drop many as they feed. A squirrel buries nuts such as acorns, but may forget to dig them up, so in effect it has planted new oak trees! Some fruits have juicy, tasty flesh. These are known by the everyday name of “fruits”. The fruity part attracts animals to eat it. The seeds are spilled or pass through the animal’s guts to emerge unharmed and far away.

    A seed germinates, or begins to grow, only when conditions are suitable. This usually requires moisture of some kind, the right temperature, and perhaps darkness, which means the seed, is buried in the soil. Some seeds like those of the ironwood tree do not germinate unless they have been scorched by fire. This usually means many plants have burned away so the ground is bare and ready for new life. Other seeds do not germinate until after they have been cracked by frost and then warmed slightly, that is, when winter is over and spring has arrived. When conditions are right, the baby plant begins to grow using its store of food in the seed-leaves, or cotyledons. It splits its case, sends roots down into the soil and grows its shoot up towards the light.

FUNGI

          Mushrooms, toadstools, brackets, yeasts, moulds and mildews are all fungi. They form one of the five great groups or kingdoms of living things. Fungi are rotters. They grow networks of thin, pale threads, called hyphae, into the bodies of dead and dying plants and animals. The threads cause the body to decompose. They then absorb the released nutrients through their surface. Like bacteria, fungi are nature’s recyclers. They return the nutrients in dead animal and plant matter or animal droppings back into the soil.

          A fungus’s network of threads is known as the mycelium. It is usually hidden in the soil, inside a dead animal’s body or under a dying tree’s bark. So we rarely notice fungi at work. We are more likely to notice them when they reproduce. They do this by growing fruiting bodies. Many of these are shaped like umbrellas—we call them mushrooms and toadstools. The presence of a mushroom indicates a network of hyphae in the soil below, rotting down and absorbing nutrients. The mushroom’s top, or cap, releases millions of tiny fungal spores that blow away in the wind.

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          A plant may not look lively and active. But inside its millions of microscopic cells, thousands of chemical changes take place as part of the plant’s life processes. Like an animal’s body, a plant’s body has many specialized parts for different jobs. The roots take in water, minerals, salts and other substances from the soil in which the plant grows. The stiff stem holds the main parts of the plant above the surface, away from animals on the ground that might eat it, and above other plants so that the leaves can catch more sunlight.

          A plant’s leaves are “light-powered food factories”. They are broad and flat so that as much light as possible falls on them. A green substance called chlorophyll in the leaves catches or absorbs the energy in light. It uses this energy to make a chemical reaction. Water, taken up from the soil, and carbon dioxide, taken in from the air, join together to form sugar, which contains lots of energy in chemical form. The plant then uses the sugar to power its life activities. The process is called photosynthesis —a word meaning “making with light”.

          The carbon dioxide for photosynthesis comes from the air. It seeps into the leaf through tiny holes in its lower surface, known as stomata. In addition to sugar, photosynthesis also produces oxygen, which seeps out into the air. Living things including ourselves need oxygen to survive. Plants help to top up its level in the air.

FLOWERS AND POLLEN

          A plant’s flower is designed to reproduce—make seeds which grow into new plants. A typical flowering plant has both male and female parts. The male parts make tiny particles, pollen grains, which look like fine yellow powder. Each grain contains a male cell. Pollen is produced in bag-like anthers on stalks, called filaments. The female cells or ovules (eggs) are in the ovary, a fleshy part at the flower’s base. A taller part, called the style, sticks up from this, with the stigma at its top. Pollen must travel from the anthers of one flower to the stigma of another of the same kind, so the male and female cells can join and develop into seeds.

          The transfer of pollen is called pollination. Some pollen grains are light and balloon-like and are blown by the wind. Others are sticky and carried by animals. To attract animals, the flower has colourful petals and a strong scent and makes sugary liquid called nectar. When animals come to drink the nectar, the pollen sticks on them. It brushes off at the next flower on to the stigma. A tube grows from the pollen grain down the style to the ovary. The male cell moves down this to join the ovule.

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          The second largest kingdom of living things after animals is the plants. The key feature of a plant which sets it apart from other living things is that it obtains energy from light by the process of photosynthesis. Most plants have broad, flat surfaces, such as leaves or fronds, where this happens. Just as there are many groups of animals, from simple worms to complicated mammals, so there are many groups of plants. However they are divided into two main kinds—the simpler types without flowers, and those with flowers.   

NON-FLOWERING PLANTS

        The simplest non-flowering plants are algae. They nearly all live in water, although a few kinds can survive in damp places, like Pleurococcus alga which grows as a green powder on shady tree trunks. Nearly all seaweeds and some types of pondweeds, such as the green, hair-like spirogyra, are algae. An alga has no proper roots, stem or leaves, although it may have a stem-like part and leaf-like blade. It absorbs water and nutrients through its body surface.

        Mosses and liverworts are known as bryophytes. A moss has small green leaflets but no proper stem or roots. It absorbs water and nutrients through its leaflets so it can only live in damp places. Liverworts grow in similar places. Each has a low, flattened body known as a thallus.

        Ferns, or pteridophytes, are also non-flowering. A fern has roots which absorb water and minerals from the soil, and a stiff stern to hold up its much-branched fronds. The stem, like the stem of a flowering plant, contains tiny pipes or tube-like vessels to carry the water and other substances from the roots to the fronds. Plants with these vessels are known as vascular plants.

        All of these non-flowering plants reproduce by making tiny, dust-like spores which grow into new plants. Conifers, also called gymnosperms, reproduce by seeds. The seeds form in hard, scaly structures known as cones. Pines, firs, spruces, larches, redwoods and cypresses are all conifers.

The first cereal to be cultivated by Man was wheat. It was probably grown first in Mesopotamia about 6,000 years ago. It later spread to China, Egypt and Europe. In the past 100 years, we have developed many kinds of wheat for different climates.

Today, Man grows wheat more than other grain. Various kinds of food items are made out of wheat. The grain can be stored for years if it is kept dry. Wheat straws used as cattle feed and bedding for livestock. It is also used as fertilizer.

Rice, the second most important grain in the world, grows best in warm, humid regions. Most kinds of rice plants grow in about 10 centimetres of water for much of the growing season. Therefore, the field has to be flooded until the harvest time. Rice is also used for the production of glue, sugar, starch and wine in many parts of Asia. In Japan and China, rice straw is used for making paper.

Corn or maize is another important grain. It is used for the manufacture of corn oil, corn syrup, and kind of sugar called dextrose. Oats, rye, and barley are also important grains. Oats is made into oatmeal, a popular cereal food. The stalk and the grain of oats are used as food for livestock as well.

Rye is a common grain in Northern Europe and Russia. Rye is primarily used as livestock feed. However, people used it for making bread too. Barely, another important grain, is grown for food and for cattle feed. It is also used for brewing beer. Several cereal grasses are together called by the name millet. Millets too are an important food for millions of people across the globe.

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Grasses make Earth green and beautiful. There are about 9,000 kinds of grass in the world. Among them, four large groups have a close connection with Man. They are pasture grasses, the sweet grasses, the cereals and the bamboos.

Grass is the favourite food of cattle. Domesticating cows and sheeps was a great option for Man because he did not have to find food for them as they ate grass. The plains, the prairies, and other areas of grass are natural grazing places for cattle. Bluegrass, Buffalo grass, Bermuda grass, and Bent grasses are some of the most sought-after pasture grasses. The cattle can also feed on hay, which is made by drying grass. Hay can be stored as winter feed for grazing animals.

Cereal grass is probably the most important grass in Man’s life. They are the grain grasses with seeds that can be eaten. Cereal grass is named after Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain and of the harvest. They are wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, rye, and millet.

Bamboo is the tallest among all the grasses. Some of them can grow as tall as tall trees. They can grow very fast too. Some kinds reach a height of about 21 metres in 6 to 8 weeks. One kind of bamboo is said to have grown 90 centimetres in 24 hours! While most bamboos are tall, some varieties grow only a few inches.

A grass sweetens the tea and coffee we drink every day. Of the many sweet grasses, the most important grass is sugarcane. These grasses grow abundantly in sunny, moist, semitropical places. The sweet juice of sugarcane grass is extracted by cutting the talks of the grass into pieces and crushing them. The juice is then strained and the water boiled out of it Molasses and sugar are made out of this juice. Sorghum is another such sweet grass. Sorghum is found across Africa and in parts of Asia.

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Cacti undoubtedly find a place in the picture of deserts. One cannot imagine deserts, without them. These plants are designed in a special way to withstand the most hostile conditions in the world.

Cacti are found in all parts of the world. They come in hundreds of shapes and colours. These plants are used for landscaping too. They are admired for their amazing diversity not only in their shape and form but also in their variety of flowers.

Therefore, these plants are seen more frequently in gardens and homes of people than in deserts these days!

Cacti store water in their thick, juicy stem. They do not seem to have leaves at all. However, cacti do have leaves. For a long time, we believed that they lost their leaves in the process of evolution in order to adapt to the hostile desert situations.these plants have leaves, but they are too small to notice. The reduced surface area of leaves helps these plants to save water. In some species, the leaves are remarkably large. Have you observed the prickly spines of the plant? They are, in fact, the leaves of the plant. These needles like leaves save water for the plants. The spines also help them defend themselves from other animals.

Although cacti are usually found in dry deserts, they are also seen in the icy regions of Northern Canada. These plants are found across the globe from hot deserts to tropical rain forests.

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You must have seen image of deserts in pictures of movies. The sandy expanse of the landscape is inhospitable for people like us. The sweltering heat of the sun is unbearable. How do plants manage this heat?

Most desert plants have light coloured leaves. These leaves reflect the rays of the sun and thus reduce the effect of heat of the plants. Some plants have the ability to move their leaves throughout the day. The Sun’s rays hit the edges of the leaves and the rest of the leaves are the shade. This helps the leaves to reduce the absorption of heat by the plant, and in turn, saves water.

Some plants in the desert are very clever. Their leaves wilt in the hot desert sun, but regain their freshness in the night. Photosynthesis for these plants takes place in their night and not during the day. They use the light energy collected during the day and use it at night.

Plants such as cacti have thickened stems in spherical shape. This feature reduces the surface area where sunlight hits, and thus saves so much of energy.

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Deserts are barren areas that pose hostile conditions to living organisms. The heat there is unbearable for animals and plants there. Infrequent rains make the landscape the least desired place for life. However, there is life in the desert too.

Plants in deserts have long roots that spread out widely, and go deep into the soil. The well-spread and deep roots respond quickly to any trace of moisture in the soil and readily accept it. The leaves of desert plants are designed to adapt to the hot conditions of the region and to preserve water. Some plants have fat, juicy leaves and stems that can preserve and store water for a long time. Some others do not have leaves at all. This prevents any loss of water through evaporation.

Desert plants do not grow fast. Their slow growth rate helps them not to spend precious water to fast. Such plants do not have a make food as frequently as others plants do, in normal conditions. Therefore, they can cantrol their consumption of water.

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Antarctica is an ice-covered continent. Life forms normally found in other parts of the world are not found in the region. There atmosphere is not conducive for plants or trees to grow there. Can grass grow in such ice-covered places?

There is a kind of grass known as Antarctic hair grass in the region. It grows primarily in the rocky areas of the Antarctic Peninsula in small, concentrated tufts. These plants generally occur in penguin colonies. The Antarctic hair grass is a fine-leaved, perennial grass. This grass is one of two only flowering plant species living below latitudes of 60 degrees in the Antarctic. The leaf blades of the plant are folded when they are tender. However, as they grow, they develop into long, dark green, erect stems.

They have the ability to withstand high levels of disturbance without withering away. Antarctic hairs grass has a complex and deep root system that keeps them well anchored in their habitats. The roots allow them to absorb water and nutrients easily from their environment too. The grass withstands freezing temperatures during the wintertime by losing its long, slender green leaves. This phenomenon helps them stay alive, without drying away completely.

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How tall can a grass grow? When we think of grass, the picture of bamboo never comes to our mind, because of its height.

However, the world’s tallest grass is bamboo. Bamboos sometimes grow to a height about 25 metres. Do you know that the tallest bamboo in the world was found in Kerala? The bamboo stalk was discovered at Pattazhi, in the kollam district, in 1904. It was 37 metres tall! Some bamboos grow as tall as huge trees, whereas some varieties grow only a few inches tall. Bamboos grow very fast too. Some varieties grow up to a metre a day!

The most important use of bamboo is in making furniture and in building houses. The grass is used for making many other things, such as fence posts, bridges, fishing poles, water pipes and musical instruments. In China, tall bamboos are used for the construction of strong walls that can withstand flood and tide and bridges up to 260 metres long. The stems of bamboos are split into strips and they can be woven into rugs, mats, fishing nets, cloth, baskets, and bedding.

The stems are used in agriculture as they can be used as plant stakes. Bamboo shoots are edible and people use them as food.

The Chinese used the word bamboo the first time when they made paper from wood pulp about 2,000 years ago. India and Burma use bamboo extensively for the manufacture of paper today.

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Ancient Man satisfied is hunger by gathering fruits from the wild or hunting smaller animals. He was a mere wanderer until then. When he found that the availability of food in a particular place was scarce, he moved to another place, where there was enough food.The major revolution in human life took place when Man started growing his own food, in an organized way. When he learned to cultivate grain yielding grass, Man’s life changed. He could store his food, and keep his supply alive, once he knew to plant grass in a systematic way. He did not have to hunt as often he did before.

The great advantage of grain as food was that it stayed fresh for a long time, if it was kept dry. So now, Man began to save some grain for the bitter winter that would come in the future. Wandering communities and tribes of men now began to settle down in places where the cultivation of grain was possible. These people came to be known as farmers.

It was farming that, in fact, changed the life of Man. The growth and development of human civilization starts from this foundation. Farming gave Man more leisure time. He could afford to design newer and better tools and thus be more creative. One can safely say that cultivation of grain grasses helped Man in the development of civilization.

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In our cultural context, grass signifies something unimportant and trivial. Since it is everywhere, we seldom notice, or give it due credit. However, our life is closely connected with grass. The rice and the wheat we consume everyday are products of grass. In fact, all the grains and cereals we eat are grasses. Most pasture plants are grass too. The sugar that we use in our tea and confectionery comes from a grass called sugarcane. There are grasses that we use to perfume our homes and other places such as lemon grass and cetronella. The tallest of all the grasses, bamboo, is also of great importance to us.

The most widespread plant family in the world is grass. Most land-dwelling organisms are dependent on grass of their existence. These little plants provide more food than any other family of green plants. In fact, there are about 9,000 kinds of grasses in the world. Most of them grow on land, while some grow in water.

Have you been to a large pasture? The green expanse of grass, sometimes, covers thousands of square kilometres of natural fields. This great sea of grass is called differently in various parts of the world.

In the United States, it is called a prairie or plain and in England, downs. In Australia, these grasslands are called ranges, in Russia, steppes, in South Africa, veldts and in the tropics, savannahs.

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Have you heard the story of the sleeping beauty that slept for one hundred years? Although, not all that happens in stories happens in real life, sleeping seeds can do a far better job than what the sleeping princess can! The seeds of silene stenophylla, a flowering plant found in Siberia, slept under the Arctic ice for more than 30,000 years!

A group of scientists discovered more than 600,000 frozen mature and immature seeds of this plant burried in squirrel burrows near the banks of the river Kolyma in 2007. Arctic ground squirrels are believed to have buried them during the ice Age. With the help of the latest dating techniques, scientists determined that the seeds were around 31,800 years old.

They planted some of the seeds, and tried to germinate some of them. It was a heartening sight to see the ancient plant bringing forth little white blooms and fruits after more than 30,000 years. The discovery, and the experiment, left the plant the most ancient, viable, multi-cellular, living organism on Earth.

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Plants and trees are said to respond to music. Music is supposed to induce growth in them and encourage them to produce a higher yield.

Such observations have been put forward on the basis of experiments conducted by scientists. The earliest such study was done by J.C. Bose of India. Several studies have been conducted by Western scientists too, to prove the above observations.

Yet an equal number of studies have been carried out by scientists to prove the theory wrong. They say that plants have no ears to hear, and no brain to process, and understand music

However, plants do respond to the vibration produced by sound. An example of this is the way that the mimosa pudica, or forget-me-not, responds to sound induced vibrations. Vibrations induce electrical signals across the leaflets of this plant and cells at the base of the leaflets respond to it. This kind of responds is known as seismonasty. Though plants may not respond to music, the way humans do, how exactly, and what effects it causes in them, still remain a mystery.

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Extinction is not something new. Records show that many plants have become extinct since life first appeared on Earth millions of years ago. But why does this happen?

One reason for this is habitat loss. Plants have adaptations that allow them to flourish in a particular area like deserts or rain forests. If these habitats are destroyed, the plant is in danger of becoming endangered or extinct.

The use of pesticides, chemicals and environmental contamination can endanger some species. Competitions from new species that are introduced by Man can result in many plants becoming extinct. This happened in St. Helena where the introduction of goats, citrus trees and herbs sounded the death knell for many species of plants found only on this island. Finally, commercial use and exploitation can deplete natural plant life, and put many plants on the endangered list. If awareness of the importance of preserving plant life is not spread, many of these will soon be lost to the world forever, as they become extinct.

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Garlic is a common spice found in kitchens. Though it’s very unpleasant to swallow a raw clove of garlic, it makes your dishes indescribably tasty.

Garlic is also an ideal herbal medicine. Very safe to use, the spice is very powerful as a remedy for many illness.The plant grows as a bulb each bulb is made up of cloves that contain antiseptic and antibiotic oil. This makes garlic an excellent medication for colds and coughs, as well as all types of chest and ear infections. The spice is also used for digestive troubles and works to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Do you know that garlic can prevent strokes and reduce blood sugar levels? The spice is proven to have the ability to delay the onset of diabetes too. Garlic lowers cholesterol levels, and boosts the immune system.

So, henceforth, do not frown when you see your mother chopping garlic for curries. After all, garlic is one of the best all-round health enhancers that you can ever have!

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Some years back, a man claimed that he extracted petrol from some wild plants, and there was a commotion about it. Later, this turned out to be a hoax. Scientists, however, say that it is possible to extract bio-oil from plants.

Some plants yield bio-oil known as bio-diesel. The oil derives from a wide range of vegetable oils and feed stock. The greatest quality of bio-diesel is that, unlike diesel or petrol, it contains no benzene, a carcinogenic agent. Therefore, the oil is cleaner and safer. The most popular herb from which bio-diesel is extracted is Jatropha. This plant has its origins in Latin America, but it is widespread throughout the arid and semiarid tropical regions of the world. The plant lives up to 50 years and is a perennial drought resistant plant. The oil of the plant has medicinal properties too.

Bio-diesel is manufactured in a conventional chemical process known as transesterification. Two chemical agents, methylesters and a by-product called glycerol, are produced in this process. Glycerol has so many uses as it is widely used in everything from toothpaste to antifreeze.

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Has your mother ever given you the juice of ginger for an ache in the belly? Ginger is another spice closely connected with the lives of our countrymen. It is an indispensable element of our diet and an important medicine for many an illness.

A rhizome like turmeric, the ginger plant is a yellowish underground stem. The pungent taste and the distinct smell of ginger make it a favourite mostly helps our stomach and digestive system.If you feel nauseous, a spoon of ginger juice is an instant reliever. It also helps with digestion and stimulates the circulation of blood.

Ginger is handily for people with high blood pressure and fever. When a person has a cough or flu, the warming effect of ginger helps patients overcome them.

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Turmeric is an important spice in India. It is continuously growing underground stem or rhizome like ginger. It is hardly possible to think of preparing our delicious curries without turmeric.

The spice has the ability to cure many digestive and liver illnesses. Turmeric can inhibit clotting of blood, reduce inflammation and can help maintain cholesterol levels in the body. Due to its antibacterial properties, the spice is used to treat many skin diseases. Much research is done today on the effectiveness of turmeric in treating cancer. Turmeric is a known cosmetic agent. Women in India have been using turmeric for centuries for clearing and beautifying their skin. Regular application of the spice can remove unwanted hair on the body too.

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Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine developed in India more than 5,000 years. It was during the Vedic times that Ayurveda grew. The world Ayurveda comes from two Sanskrit words: Ayur, meaning life, and Veda, meaning science or knowledge. Hence, Ayurveda literally means ‘Science of life’. Ayurveda recommends treatments that comprises mainly of products from herbs, plants and minerals. According to this science, Nature has ways of curing illnesses of the body. The death of an individual can be maintained by closeness to nature. Therefore, more than being a system of medicine, Ayurveda is considered by many a philosophy and thus a way of life. Ayurveda helps us in the understanding of the self and body and gives detailed guidelines about diet, daily routine, lifestyle, actions and activities to be followed in life.

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We call somebody a parasite when the person takes advantage of another and uses him or her for the former’s gain and growth. A parasite lives on another organism, often a member of another species. The organism that is being exploited is known as the host.

Parasitic plants often lack roots for obtaining water. Sometimes, chlorophyll is also absent in these plants for photosynthesis. Therefore, these plants have to depend exclusively on their hosts for their sustenance. While parasites take everything from their hosts, they give nothing to them in return.

Some parasites are very choosy too. They do not stick on to every plant available. Some parasites live only on pines; whereas some others grow on junipers. However, most parasites are not fussy about their hosts. Sometimes, some parasitic plants will choose other parasites as their hosts! Mistletoe’s are sometimes found to be feeding on other Mistletoe!

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If you have read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, you must be familiar with vampires. They are mythical beings that suck the blood of people and then, leave them dead! Although vampires are imaginary beings and are not real, some plants have similar characteristics and that they are called vampire plants.

Vampire plants are called so because they draw food and water from other plants. The dodder is a common vampire plant. The stem of the plant stretches towards plants nearby and gets attached to them. Their stem is so slim and long that they wind around the plant. Little thread-like roots get inside the stem of the other plant. With the help of these roots, the dodder plant sucks food and water and grows.

Some common vampire plants are the Indian paintbrush and the mistletoe.

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Trees generally grow on dry land; many are aquatic as they are found in water too. If you think you have covered all plants, you are wrong! Plants grow on trees too!

Most of such plants are found on top of tall trees in tropical forests. The reason, however, is quite simple. Tropical rain forests are thickly populated by trees. Huge trees stay close to each other without leaving much space between them. The foliage of these huge trees blocks the sunlight and little plants on the ground do not get the rays of the sun. This makes their life difficult, as plants need sunlight for photosynthesis.

Nature has designed some plants such as orchids and Spanish moss to grow on tall trees because they can take advantage of the height of the tall trees and get sunlight. Another advantage of plants growing on trees is that their seeds, most of them very light, could be easily scattered by the wind. Now, the seeds fall mostly on nearby trees and the new plants take roots in these trees. They hang onto the trees of the rest of their life and find enough sunlight, water and food to sustain them there.

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The rafflesia arnoldii is a parasitic plant that lives inside the host plant for months.

So, it is rarely seen, as it gets all its nutrients from the host, which is a vine. It makes a dramatic entry into the outside world only at its flowering season.

This is the time when flowers first bud through the woody vine, and open into breath-taking magnificence.

The refflesia produces the largest single flowers in the world. The flowers can take up to ten months to develop for the first visible bud to the open bloom, which may last to more than a few days. The leathery petals can be up to a metre in width.

Although spectacularly beautiful, rafflesia flowers are unfortunately, very stinky. They smell of rooting flesh! Rafflesias are found most commonly in Sumatra, and also in primary rain forests.

The Rafflesia plant spends most of its life unseen.

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The yellow rattle is a semi parasitic plant. It is commonly found in meadows and grassy places.

The plant gets part of its water and nutrient requirements by parasitising the roots of grasses and other herbs.

The yellow rattle gets its name from its bright yellow flowers, and the sound of the ripe seeds rattling inside the seed-capsules.

The majority of seed ripen in mid to late July, and the rattling of the fruit within the capsules was said to indicate that the meadow was ready to be cut for hay.

Hence, the yellow rattle is also known as hay rattle. In the past this plant was a serious pest for farmers, as it weakens grasses, and as a result could reduce hay yields.

At the same time by suppressing the growth of grass, it helps other wild flowers to bloom.

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Banyan trees are among the most spectacular trees in the world. A fully grown banyan tree looks like a group of trees, and some of them have even 1000 trunks.

These ‘trunks’ are actually rope like roots that grow downwards from the branches. When the roots reach the ground, they anchor themselves to the soil and become individual trunks.

The tree bears fruits that look like figs. The fruits, which appear red in colour when matured, are not edible.

The dark green leaves of the tree are large and leathery. An old banyan tree can reach more than 199 metres in diameter and can be as tall as 29 metres.

Historical records say that Alexander the Great camped under a banyan tree that was large enough to provide shelter to his army of 7000 men.

The banyan tree, found in India and Sri Lanka, is considered to be as sacred tree, and is the national tree of our country. Its huge structure, deep roots, and branches symbolize the country’s unity in diversity.  

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The corpse flower is not a single flower. It is one of the world’s largest and rarest flowering structures that can be as tall as, or even taller than an adult.

This pungent plant blooms rarely-only once in 40 years-then, only for a short time.

While it is bloom, the flower emits a strong odour similar to rotting meat, or decaying corpse.

The smell, colour and even temperature of corpse flowers attract dung beetles, flesh flies and other carnivorous insects.

These insects typically eat dead flesh. The smell and the dark burgundy colour of the flower are meant to imitate a dead animal to attract them.

These insects help in the pollination of the corpse flower.

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The holly is a small tree with leaves. It provides birds with food, and with protection from winter storms and predators. But it does not encourage caterpillars, and with good reason. Certain types of caterpillars attack trees, and strip them of all their leaves for food. However, the leaves of the holly tree are designed in such a way as to prevent such an attack. Caterpillars generally like to eat a leaf from the edge, nibbling inwards, until the entire leaf is consumed.

But the leaves of the holly tree have very thick edges. In fact, the edges are so tough that a caterpillar finds it difficult to get even a nibble. The frustrated caterpillar therefore, will decide it is not worth the trouble, and leave the holly tree alone!

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The sundew plant is a carnivorous plant that lures little flies to it, and digests them. These brightly coloured plants can easily attract little insects to them. Once an insect is trapped, it has no escape from the plant.

Sundew traps insects by deception. The plant has glands that stick out of the stem. These glands are covered with a honey-like substance. In fact, these glands are bait. When the hungry insect sees them, it believes that the substance is indeed honey and flies to it with all its might.

However, when it touches the plant, it gets the shock of its life, and realizes that all is not well! The shiny fluid is a powerful adhesive that keeps the insect glued to the plant. As the insect wrestles with death, the glands slowly clutch the insect and suffocate it.

As the insect slowly near its end, the plant produces an enzyme that would digest it. In a short span of time, nothing but the scruffy shell of the insect remains, and the glands return to their normal position.

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While there are a variety of carnivorous plants on land, most species of insect-trapping plants are found in water. Bladderworts are a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of more than 230 species. Most of them are aquatic plants.

Bladderworts are called so be cause of the tiny bladder-like structures on the plants. These bladders appear on the branched underwater leaves of the plant. Bladderworts trap insects with the help of these bladders. They are, in fact, small vacuum traps that can catch tiny aquatic insects and animals.

Bladderworts are strange plants. They do not have roots! They feathery leaves of the plant always remain submerged in the water.The plant has beautiful, tiny flowers that appear on top of thin stems a few centimetres tall. These plants look like miniature orchids. These brightly coloured flowers attract tiny insects to the plant. However these plants often go unnoticed by bigger animals as they usually appear in the bottom of shallow waters. In summer and spring, they float to the surface of the water and send up shoots of small, attractive yellow snapdragons like flowers.

Not all bladderworts are water-bound. Some of these species are found on damp mosses and some others are found on trees.

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Carnivorous plants are similar to other plants in many ways. They reproduce just like other plants. Reproduction of these plants takes place either through seeds or by dividing themselves.

Some carnivorous plants have flowers. Such plants have seeds and they reproduce through them. Much like other plants, when the seeds fall on suitable soil, they germinate and grow into new plants. However, some carnivorous plants have special shoots. These shoots develop into new plants. Sometimes, one single plant turns into several small plants. This happens when a common clump of the plant with many roots and stem separates and grow into new plants.

Carnivorous plants, although strange in their way of trapping insects, are not very different from other plants when it comes to other features.

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Carnivorous plants are freaks of nature as they live a semi animal life! However, unlike animals, these plants cannot move around looking for their prey; and therefore, nature devises strategies to attract insects to them!

Fly-trapping plants are various techniques in order to attract insects. Usually, these plants are brightly coloured. Insects are easily attracted to the plants due to their arresting colours. Such plants have fleshy-coloured flowers with nectar too.

Some plants have a certain scent in them. For some insects, such sweet perfume is irresistible. Sometimes, it works differently. Insects trapped in the leaves decay over a period of time and thus start stinking. The rooting smell attracts flies to the plant. Thus, the fly trapping plants get their food.

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Plants are considered the most peaceful organisms on Earth, primarily because they cannot move. They hardly harm any other life forms as they prepare their food through photosynthesis. However, have you heard of plants that trap insects and eat them?

Much like a gecko or a frog that eat up a fly in a flash, some plants give a nasty surprise to some insects that fly past them. They are carnivorous plants that live on insects and are found across the globe. However, these plants are not much different from other plants. Their developmental pattern and physical structure, is similar to other plants. They too need sunlight, water and other nutrients in order to be healthy. One of the most essential elements for them is nitrogen. Most plants absorb nitrogen from the soil in which they grow. Most insect eating plants grow on warm and marshy soil that contains little nitrogen. Therefore, these plants have to resort to acquiring the vital elements they need, by grabbing insects and devouring them! It is from these insects that the plants get the necessary nourishment.

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Deserts contain some strange and curious plants. The Namib is a coastal desert in Africa. Extending over 1931 kilometres along the Atlantic Ocean, the desert is considered to be the oldest desert in the world.

The Namib Desert is home to a strange variety of plant life. One of them is the welwitschia plant. The plant looks wilted to ordinary people. The welwitschia plant has only two main leaves and they are spread out over the desert. The plant has a tired it sprouts on the ground.

The halfmens plant is another curious plant in the desert. It has a strange resemblance to a human being from a distance. That is the reason behind its African name, which means ‘half plant and half man’! Yet another plant, the kokerboom, has smooth branches. These branches have a light powder that reflects sunlight. The kokerboom has blue leaves that bloom during the months of June and July.

The lichen, the most common plant in the vast desert region, has the ability to draw moisture from fog and stay alive during the hot season.

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Although there are hundreds of cactus species, the saguaro cactus stands out among them all. The largest cactus in the world, these plants are found in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.

Like some trees that live long, saguaros can have a long life spanning from 150 to 200 years. They can grow very tall too. A saguaro cactus normally reaches the height of 40 metres. Their growth, however, is extremely slow. The plant continues to grow taller until it completes its life cycle; and thus it takes up to 200 years to reach its full height.

One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the plant is its arms. They spread out like raised arms of a human being and a fully developed plant looks spectacular from a distance.

A saguaro cactus is fully equipped to meet the harsh climate of the Sonoran Desert. The plant’s skin is covered with a thick wax coating that waterproofs the plant. This wax coating reduces the plant’s water loss significantly. The hard and sharp spines and the flexible bristles of the plant help it to ward off the animals that look for water in the plant. There is a sponge like tissue within the plant, and this helps the plant store water. The stem gets larger and larger as more water is stored within the plant. The ability of the plant to store water in this manner can make it quite heavy. Sometimes, at its full height, a saguaro cactus may weigh around a tonne.

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Human beings have a life span of seventy two hundred years. History, for us, is what is written down in books by people who lived before us. Now, if there were someone who lived a thousand years, he would be able to tell us if these stories were true. Unfortunately, only trees and their seeds, which are mute beings, live that long. Therefore, seeds have the ability to travel through time.

Seeds can live for years after the death of a plant. Some of them will grow into plants after thousands of years too. In 1954, in the Canadian Arctic, Harold Schmidt, a mining engineer, discovered some seeds in burrows several metres below the ground. With the help of the local people, he gathered the seeds, and preserved them in a dry place.

Years later, Dick Harrington, a scientist, tested the seeds by placing them in a conducive environment. The seeds germinated within 48 hours! Six healthy plants grew out of them. The plants were identified as Lupines Arcticus. Scientists estimate that these seeds were 10,000 years old. They had defined time, only to sprout after being dormant for thousand of years.

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Have you eaten an uncooked ripe tomato? Usually we consider the tomato a vegetable and use it in curries. However, it looks like a fruit in all respects. So, what is a tomato, a fruit or vegetable?

What makes a fruit different from vegetable? Vegetables do not contain seeds in them. Therefore, radish, carrot, celery and lettuce are vegetables; whereas, many vegetables, which we have never considered fruits even in the wildest of imagination, are, in fact, fruits! The tomato, therefore, is a fruit, no doubt. Along with it, beans, cucumber, squash and many more are fruits too.

However, we hardly eat them raw. Most of these ‘fruits’ are used as vegetables; and therefore, we call them vegetables out of habit.

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Fleshy fruits have many kinds of seeds. They are generally classified as berry, drupe, aggregate fruits and false fruit.

There are usually several seeds in a berry. Grapes, tomatoes and gooseberries are examples of berries. These fruits change their colour in order to signal when they are ready to be eaten. Drupes, on the other hand, have seeds inside them. These seeds are also known as stones. Mangoes, cherries, peaches and apricots are drupes. When animals eat these fruits, they drop the hand seeds on the ground eating only the flesh.

An aggregate fruit is not a single fruit. Many fruits join together to form an aggregate fruit. In fact, each individual fruit is formed in a separate ovay, and has its own seed and flesh. However, when they grow, they look like a single fruit. Raspberries and loganberries are aggregate fruits.

False fruits are counterparts of true fruits. While true fruits develop from a plant’s ripened ovary, false fruits develop from its ripened ovary together with other parts of the plant. The apple is an example. While the core of the fruit is from the ovary, the outer part of the fruit is grown out of the stem of the plant.

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Have you seen soft and furry parachute like dandelion seeds that fly in the air? In the wind, they fly to distant places, where they fall and germinate. Thousands of plants like dandelion produce seeds with a furry crown. They float away in the air, proliferate and propagate their species when they fall on the ground.

Many dry fruits explode when they are ripe. When they snap open, their seeds shoot to a distance. The pods of these fruits have two halves that split apart when they are dry. They explode with a loud noise. Cranesbill fruits are like tiny catapults. When they dry, tension builds up inside them and part of the fruit snaps, flinging seeds to the air.

If you have spent time on grassy lands, you must have come across certain itchy seeds with little spines or hooks. They get stuck to your clothes and are also easily lodged in the fur coat of animals. Thus, they move to distant places. Bur seeds are examples.

Plants that live near rivers and oceans have fruits that can float. Our coconut palm is a perfect example of such a plant. The fruit travels wherever the water takes it. It can survive in seawater for many days. When it finds dry land, it takes roots there, and starts growing. That is why seashore plants are found in various parts of the world.

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Seeds propagate a plant’s life. Therefore, plants package them in beautiful and secure cases called fruits. Nature, in its infinite wisdom, has devised plans to spread the life of plants in the most effective way.

Plants have developed ways to scatter their seeds. Some plants have exploding seedpods that fling seeds far and wide. For some other trees, the wind carries their seeds to distant places. Sometimes, water too comes to their help. Animals play a significant role in spreading seeds. Many plants have fruits that get lodged in the fur of the animal. The animal carries the seeds wherever it goes and deposits them somewhere safely.

Some seeds come in sweet and delicious berries. Animals and birds eat them. However, the seeds remain undigested in their belly and fall to the ground through their droppings. Have you seen banyan trees on top of some very tall buildings? Bird deposited the seeds there through their droppings.

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Yew trees are coniferous plants. However, they are a bit different when it comes to their cones. Yews do not have cones; instead, their seeds come in bright, red fleshy cups, known as an aril, which is open at the tip. They look more like berries than cones. But, beware! Most parts of a yew plant are poisonous!

The tree can grow up to twenty metres and live very long. The leaves of the tree are needle-shaped and dark green in colour. An evergreen tree, yews have male and female trees.

Yew trees have been associated with churchyards for a long time. Most graveyards in England have yew trees in them. It is a long held view that the trees were planted during the time of the plague in order to protect and purify the dead. The graveyards were inaccessible to cows, because eating the leaves of yew plants would kill them.

While the trees were symbols of death, they were also hailed as trees of immortality. For many centuries, it was a custom to carry the yew branches on Palm Sunday, and at funerals.

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Among coniferous plants, there are three major orders. They are cycads, ginkgoes and conifers. Cycads are one of the most primitive plants that bear seeds. They resemble ferns in many ways.

There are about 150 species of cycads. Some of them are found in very remote and restricted areas. Many cycads trees bear poisonous seeds, which look like nuts. The contie, a small and tough cycad, produces a starch called Florida Arrowroot or sago, which is edible.The plant is also known as Sago palm.

Some cycads have tuberous underground stems. Some have leathery, fern-like leaves and others have a columnar stems, which are often mistaken for palms.

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The welwitschia is probably the strangest plant in the world. While most known plants shed their leaves at some point in time, this plant never sheds its leaves. The plant consists of two leaves, a stem base and roots.

The uniqueness of the plant lies in the fact that the two leaves that the plant has will stay on it for as long as the plant lives. However, do not think that the plant has a short life span. It lives for centuries! The average lifespan of these plants is 400 to 1500 years. Many welwitschia plants alive today are 500 to 600 years old and some large ones are thought to be 2000 years old.

The two permanent leaves of the plant never cease to grow. They are broad and as hard as wood. They lie on the ground, and look like torn and shred ribbons in their appearance. There are male and female plants. They flower from summer to autumn.

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Large, tall trees are found in most places in the world. However, the American state of California is where the largest and tallest trees are found.

Conifers, as we have already seen, make the largest and the tallest trees in the world. Such trees are found abundantly in California.The largest conifers are the giant sequoias of the western United States. The biggest among this species, the General Sherman tree, is located in the Sequoia National Park, in California.

The redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. The tallest redwood is 115.7 metres high, and is in California. These trees are slimmer than sequoias, yet more graceful than them. Therefore, as far as trees are concerned, California is the home of the tallest and the largest.

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As we have already seen, not all plants reproduce through flowers. Coniferous plants have cones that carry their seeds. They are also known as gymnosperms. The word ‘gymnosperm’ comes from two Latin words, ‘Gymno’, meaning ‘naked’, and ‘sperma’, meaning ‘seeds’. Coniferous plants have exposed seeds in their cones.   Cedars, cypresses, fires, junipers, kauris, larches, pines, redwoods, spruces and yews are examples.

There are more than 600 diffrent species of coniferous plants. In most plant species, both male and female cones occur in the same plant. Male cones are smaller than female cones. They produce pollen during the springtime. These plants depend primarily on the wind for pollination. Coniferous plants are found across the globe.

Coniferous plants can grow into huge trees. Some of world’s tallest, widest and oldest trees are conifers. The leaves of coniferous plants are of three types. They are needle-shaped leaves, flat leaves and scale-like leaves.

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Have you smelt the leaves of a tulsi plant? It smells sweet. So do many other flowering plants such as roses and jasmines. While some flowers have a very attractive fragrance, some others do not have any smell at all. Some other plants have a repulsive smell too.

Flowers and plants have strong smells in order to attract pollinators. Insects are attracted by their smell. These flowers usually have a sweet fragrance; however, there are flowers that have strong stink too. Little flies come to these flowers that give out the smell of rooting meat.

Not all flowers have a fragrance. Plants that pollinate through the wind do not need colours or smell. The flowers that grow on grasses do not have any smell because they rely primarily on the wind for their pollination. Flowers in light colours such as yellow, pink and white attract moths and butterflies that can see. These flowers usually have a faint smell and not a strong one. Flowers that bees frequent do not have any smell generally. Bees see their colours and are attracted to the flowers.

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Sleep is essential for all animals. It gives necessary rest to our body and mind. In a way, plants sleep too; but not in the way we do.

Plants sleep when it is dark and there is no Sun. Since, in the absence of the Sun, they cannot make food, and photosynthesis is not possible. Therefore, during night, plants close down their stomata and only respiration remains in them, much like animals. Some plant species even fold their leaves in the dark.

Organisms have adapted to the rhythm of night and day. Scientists have been studying the day and night rhythm in plants. They say that plants sleep during the night. Flowers open in the morning and leaves close in the night. Carl Linnaeus observed that plants continued this behaviour even when they were confined inside a room away from the Sun.

Some big trees reportedly droop downwards in sleep during night. When dawn approaches, they come back to their old self, the same way we get up in the morning.

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We sweat after a hard day’s labour. Sweating is a way to control the heat of our body. What do plants do when they have excessive heat? Scientists say that plants sweat too, although not the way we do.

Plants release water from their leaves incessantly. However, this may not be visible to us. If you cover a plant with a plastic bag, you will see droplets of water formed on the leaves. These droplets are, in fact, the sweat of the plant. Sometimes, people mistake the water found on the leaves of plants in the morning as dew drops. In fact, the plant was sweating during the night. The process of a plant’s sweating is known as transpiration.

During transpiration, plants expel water through the tiny pores on their leaves called stomata. These pores can close and open in order to control the loss of water in a plant. Sometimes, the amount of water that a plant releases can be very high. It is said that, over a growing season, corn growing in one acre of land may transpire 15100 litres of water!

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You may have heard about walking trees in fairy tales. Trees do not have the ability to move about from place to place like animals. However, trees do make certain movements.

Plants move when they grow. Their movement is so subtle that we are hardly able to notice it. A growth substance called auxin is found in plant cells. This substance helps plants move in the direction of the sun. Due to the presence of the substance, when we plant a seed, its sprout will grow upwards towards the sky. Botanists call this phenomenon geotropism.

Plants move in various ways. Some vegetables such as pumpkin and bitter gourd can reach up to objects with their tendrils. Flowers move as they open and close their petals. You may have seen sensitive mimosa plants that wilt when someone touches them.

Fruits of porcupine grass can move their long tail. There are plants such as the witch hazel that shoots its seeds when they are ripe. A jumping bean moves when the caterpillar inside it jumps.

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Plants are stationary beings that stay in one place for ages. Some consider them witnesses of the events that happened in a certain place. Sometimes, divinity is even attributed to them, and people worship them. Can trees see as we do?

Some plants such as the sunflower respond to the presence of sunlight and move in that direction. The sensitive, touch-me-not plant quickly folds its leaves when someone touches it. All these facts give us the impression that plants do have the faculty of touch. However, since they lack brains, we cannot conclusively say that they can see, hear or feel pain.

Plants, however, have the ability to respond to external stimuli as is evident from the examples of the sunflower and mimosa plants. Scientists, on the other hand, think that trees lack faculties such as hearing, smell, seeing and feeling the way we have them.

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Trees have different life cycles. Some trees live for a short time, while some others live for centuries. Plants are named annuals, biennials and perennials depending on the length of their life cycles.

Annuals live for a year. They grow, produce flowers and die within the span of a year. Plants such as petunias and zinnias are annuals. When these plants die, they leave seeds that will grow into new plants. Not all such plants live for an entire year. A seed-to-seed cycle can occur in the span of even a month. Many desert plants live for only a week and thus they are called ephemeral.

Biennials live for two years. In the first year, the tree spends time storing its food for the winter months. The tree produces flowers and seeds in the second year and the tree dies later. Turnips, carrots and beets are biennials.

Perennials live for more than two years. Such plants do not flower in the initial years. However, in course of time, they flower and fructify and repeat it every year. These plants grow into huge trees and occupy more space than other smaller plants. Most perennials can be grown from cuttings or seeds. Chrysanthemums, peonies, irises and lupins are some popular perennials found in gardens.

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The developmental cycles of animals and plants have contrasting styles. Animals typically have their organs when they are born, and they merely increase in size as time passes. However, trees grow branches, leaves and flowers, and they wither away and new ones grow in course of time.

The life of a plant begins in a seed. The germination process begins when various elements such as sunlight, temprature changes and the presence of nutrients come in proper proportion. The young plant uses the nutrients stored in the seed itself for its early growth and development. The seedling develops chlorophyll and turns green. Most plants start producing chlorophyll when exposed to sunlight as the substance is light induced.

While the growth of animals is reflected all over their bodies, the development of plants happens only in certain areas of their bodies. Such specific regions in the bodies of plants are known as meristems. Meristems are chiefly found at the tips of roots, shoots and in the cambium.

Environment too plays a role in the growth of a plant. A tree located in the open, that receives abundant sunlight tends to grow broad and wide with lots of leaves, whereas, trees that grow in a congested environment will have limited growth. Some chemical regulators play significant roles in growth of plants, too.

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Peaches and almonds growing on same tree! Or, mangoes and guavas hanging from the same plant! Wouldn’t it be convenient if many fruits were to grow on the same tree? It might sound strange; however, this is not impossible.

There is a technique called grafting, which can perform wonders such as the ones mentioned above. In grafting, parts from two or more plants are joined together. The upper part of one plant grows on the root system of another plant. Therefore, if the bud or twig of a pear plant is carefully inserted into a slit in the bark of an apple tree, pears will grow on the apple tree, and the tree will start producing both apples and pears.

Grafting is performed in related species of trees. However, if it is not performed delicately and with care, the process may not be successful.

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At flower shows, have you seen miniature trees, which have proportionately small branches, leaves and fruits? They look very attractive and decorate in interiors of many a home! These miniature trees are known as bonsai trees.

Bonsai is considered a form of art. A bonsai artist grows trees, which would otherwise grow into huge trees, in small trays. The small size of the trees maintained by regular pruning of leaves and roots. Thus a wild tree that would grow to an enormous size is dwarfed by the constant intervention of man. The trunk of the tree is also designed in an attractive way.

Bonsai is a Japanese art form. In Japanese, the word means ‘scenery in a container’. In Japan and many other parts of the world, bonsai shows are popular. It is a glorious sight to see miniature trees arranged in an exquisite fashion.

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From ancient times, fruits have been Man’s favourite food Prehistoric Man may have resorted to consuming fruits, which were readily available when other sources of food were scarce. There are very interesting stories behind the names of most fruits.

Tomato is a West Indian word. Do you know that the meaning of the word is ‘love apple’? Grapes, on the other hand, were so called because they grow in bunches. The fruit gets its name from the French word ‘grappe’, and the Italian word ‘grappo’. Both these words mean the same: ‘bunch’!

The raspberry gets its name from the German word, ‘raspen’. It means to ‘rub something with a file’. The fruit has an exterior that looks as if it has been scraped with a file! Strawberries were initially called Stray-berries because their stalks strayed in all directions. The names of most other fruits have such funny origins!

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Have you seen a tomato before it is ripe? It is green, sour and not very soft. However, as time passes, it changes its colour:  first into yellow and then red. Most fruits are green in colour before they ripen. They may not be sweet and delicious as they would be when they are ripe.

Nature is playing a trick here. The unripe fruits do not contain mature seeds. Therefore, they need protection from animals and birds until they are ripe. These fruits are hidden among green leaves so that they escape the notice of others. When they ripen, they start attracting animals and birds, in turn, will be carries and disperses of seeds.

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A seed in a fruit is something that we hardly notice while we eat the delicious fruit. However, the purpose of the fruit is to carry seeds and help the tree in reproduction. Fruits are a tree’s seed containers.

Fruits come in different sizes and shapes. A mango or an apple could be easily made into a juice. However, not all fruits are juicy; some are dry. Some are round and heavy. Some have wings and fluffy tails to be caught in a wind and placed in faraway places. Nature designs them in such a way that they are properly dispersed and find places to start growing into a new tree.

Fruits can be divided into two categories: fleshy and dry. Fleshy fruits can be subdivided into those fruits formed from a single flower or from a group of flowers. Such fruits are found to have either one or many seeds in them.

Tomato, apple, mango and plum are examples of fleshy fruits. Among dry fruits, some fruits come in seedpods, which will open up and release seeds. Others do not have seedpods. Nuts, sunflower seeds and legumes are examples of dry fruits.

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Seeds come in many sizes and shapes. Some are soft; others are hard. Their longevity varies depending on the species. Some do not stay alive for long, while some others can live really long.
The germination of certain seeds has to take place within four or five days after their maturity. The seeds die if germination does not take place in time. However, in cooler climates, seeds have to stay alive longer because they have to wait until the climate becomes conducive for germination. Therefore, nature has designed some species in such a way that their seeds last thousands of years at a stretch. Do you know that the seeds of Arctic Lupus plants archaeologists found from a burrow were as old as 10,000 years? They were live seeds, which sprouted and grew into plants once they came in contact with water and soil!

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Plants reproduce in many ways. Seeds are just one of them. Certain plants like ferns breed through spores. Spores are tiny cells produced by the plant. These cells are blown and scattered by the wind to various locations where they sprout to become plants.

In some plants, small roots appear on the trunk of an existing plant. Slowly, these roots and the trunk develop into another independent plant. This way of reproduction is known as vegetative reproduction and happens usually in bulbs and tubers. It enables plants to spread quickly around the parent plant.

Some plants are reproduced through their twigs and branches cut from them. If you plant a branch of rose plant, it would sprout and develop into an independent plant. The willow tree, geranium, begonia and African violet are examples of reproduction through cuttings.

Another way of reproduction is through the process of layering. The branches of a certain plants start developing roots and shoots when they bent, and have contact with the soil for some time. This branch will gradually develop into another plant. Gooseberries, blackberries, grapevines, and forsythia can reproduce in this way, and do not need seeds for the purpose.

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Have you ever seen a field of sunflowers? The brilliant yellow flowers, swaying together in the wind are enough to take anyone’s breath away! Sunflowers have the tendency to face the sun all through the day; and that is why, they are called by that name.

The ability of the flower to follow the movement of the sun is called phototropism, which literally means ‘moving along light’. Many flowers have this ability. A hormone named Indole Ascetic Acid regulates this movement in the plants. This hormone moves through the body of the plant and can regulate cell growth and enlargement of the part wherever it is located.

In the morning, the hormone moves to the west side of the plant where sunlight does not fall and causes the stem of the flower to stretch to the eastern direction. In the afternoon, the plant appears to be following the sun throughout the day. During night, however, the hormone spreads through the body of the plant and does not concentrate on a particular location.

Sunflowers have many uses for Man. The oil extracted from the seeds of the flower is used for cooking. The seeds are also used as a delicious snack.

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A flower is a wondrous object. Both the stamens that contains pollen, and pistils that bear egg cells, are found in the same flower. Naturally, such a flower is equipped for a reproduction. However, usually such pollination hardly happens.

Pollen from the stamen of a flower usually does not go to the pistil of the same flower. Insects and small birds carry the pollen from one flower to the other. This kind of pollination is known as cross-pollination.

Cross-pollination is important, because it guarantees better and more efficient seeds and fruits. Charles Darvin, the great scientist and naturalist, has demonstrated this phenomenon through his experiments.

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Pollination is the process of propagating life. This is a common phenomenon among all seed-bearing plants. In this process, pollen found on the stamen is transferred to the pistils so that seeds can form.

How are pollen transferred? Often, the wind carries them to the pistils. They can be transferred by raindrops falling on the flower too. However, mostly pollination happens through insects and small animals that frequent flowers. They are called pollinators; and the process of transfer of pollen by the help of these insects or animals is known as pollination.

You must have seen honeybees and butterflies on flowers. They not only fill themselves with the nectar of the flowers, but also pollinate them. Honeybees are said to be the best pollinators. Beetles, wasps and butterflies are also known pollinators. Some small birds such as humming birds and topical bats help in pollination too.

Now, the bright colours of flowers help in this regard. The purpose of flowers is to attract insects and animals to it. Insects find blue, red, purple, violet and many other brightly coloured flowers attractive and go to them. Not all insects are attracted to the same colour though. That is the reason for the variety and beauty in nature.

When an insect sits in a flower for nectar, pollen grains are stuck to its body. It carries this pollen to others flowers when it visits them. When the pollen settles in pistils, the egg cells in the pistil are fertilized and seeds begin to form. New plants will grow from these seeds and life will go on.

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Have you been to a flower show? Beautiful blossoms, exquisitely arranged are a feast the eyes! An expert flower arranger can bring together a range of colourful flowers, buds and leaves to exceptional aesthetic perfection. However, the master flower arranger is nature herself. Observe a bunch of flowers of the golden shower tree. No mortal artist can arrange it better.

Nature arranges different species of flowers differently. In some plants, there will be only one flower in the stem; in some others are arranged in a spike-like pattern. Some species have flowers arranged in a bunch. This is called inflorescence.

Why does nature arrange flowers so beautifully? The strongest underlying force that leads the world forward is desire for life. And the flowers bear the seeds that hold the ‘tomorrow’ of life!

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Our world would not be so beautiful without flowers. They come in so many colours, shapes and fragrances. A Rose is distinctly different from a jasmine or a lily. However, all flowers have a common purpose and similar structural pattern.

All flowers have four basic parts. They are the petals, sepals, stamen and pistils. These parts, however, come in a variety of shapes, sizes and structures. There are very simple flowers such as the buttercup, while some others are very complex like the orchid. The petals of flowers vary incredibly. Some have ruffled or smooth petals, others have coloured sepals that look like petals. Though all flowers look perfect to us, there are certain elements required for a flower to be perfect. The flower should have the stamen and the pistils, the male and the female parts, in them. Roses and lilies are perfect flowers. There are flowers that do not have either of these parts. Such flowers are called ‘imperfect flowers’. Willow flowers are imperfect flowers. Some plants have both male and female flowers on them. The male flower contains only stamen and the female has only pistils.

Those engaged in the study of flowers have an interesting job, because there is an amazing variety of flowers in nature.

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Flowers play an important role in the socio-cultural context of Man. There is hardly a special occasion where flowers are not used. Have you ever wondered why plants produce these beautiful things with sweet fragrance, and arresting colours?

Flowers are an essential part of plants. They serve the purpose of reproduction in them. Flowers are the part that produces seeds in plants. New plants grow out of seeds and thus the plant is able to produce its offspring.

Most flowers, despite their differences, have a similar structure. The centre of a flower contains stamens that have pollen cells and carpel or pistils of the flower. Usually, the petals of the flower are bright and colourful.

A set of leaves are found outside the petals of the flower and it is known as the calyx. Calyx is divided into segments called sepals.

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Have you heard of plants that pray? Some plants fold their leaves at night, as if they are praying.

Most of these prayer plants have big, oval leaves. They turn upward at night. In fact, there are many plants that move their leaves at night. The leaves of plants such as peas and beans bend downward in the night as if they are sleeping or praying.

There is a regular pattern for the folding and unfolding of such leaves. Biologists call these routine patterns ‘daily cycles’ or ‘circadian rhythm’. The most probable reason for this phenomenon is that the plants are trying to prevent loss of heat during the cold night hours. The leaves move because the water in the cells of the leaves move in and out of it. When water moves out from one cell to another, the cell without water tends to wilt, and the plant seems to move. And, for some mysterious reason, the absence or presence of light plays a role in this phenomenon.

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If you tried to pick a rose flower, it is highly unlikely that you have escaped without being pricked by its thorns. Sometimes it becomes very difficult and unpleasant to pick a flower from a thorny plant. There are many plants that have thorns.

All animals and plants have evolved and developed ways of defending themselves. Snakes and certain insects use venom to protect themselves. In the case of plants, they need to protect themselves from animals that would eat or injure them. Some plants have developed thorns to escape such animals.

Thorns come in various sizes and shapes. Do you know that the thorns of many plants, in fact, are modified branches? In some other plants such as cacti, they are modified leaves!

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Do you have a vegetable garden at home? If you observe a bitter gourd or pumpkin plant, you will notice slender thread-like structures that wrap themselves tightly around a support. Most climbing plants have this feature called tendrils. The purpose of tendrils is to guide a climber to a support to which it can cling.

Tendrils help plants to change their position. When tendrils come in contact with support, there is faster growth for cells in the opposite side. As a result, the tendril rapidly forms a coil around the support, making it look like the spring of a wristwatch. Tendrils are very fast too. Sometimes, they make their first coil within twenty seconds of touching a support, and in four minutes, will be tightly wound around it.

Tendrils attach themselves to the support in different ways. The most common kind coils around a slender support and then tightens itself in a spiral. Pea, grape etc are examples. On the other hand, the disk-tipped tendril adheres firmly to brick, stone or wood, and then contacts. There are also other means of climbing.

Charles Darvin was the first scientist to publish the earliest study of tendrils, in a monograph titled ‘On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants’. It was published in 1865.

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For a pair of untrained eyes, leaves are nothing but a bunch of rustling foliage. However, a closer look will reveal much more than what meets our eyes. For example, in an ordinary rose leaf, the green colour is in fact inside the leaf rather than outside. If we observe it closely, we can perceive that the outer surface is colourless. We might even need a microscope to see this more clearly.

Much like a human or animal body, leaves too have a skin! A thin layer of epidermis, or skin cells, covers the outside of the leaf. Small openings called stomata are present in the lower epidermis, and sometimes in the upper epidermis. Air passes in and out of the leaf through these openings. In plants such as water lilies, all the stomata are in the upper epidermis as the lower epidermis rests on the water.

The opening of each stomata is controlled by two bean-shaped cells called the guard cells. They swell with water during the day and shrink at night.

These guard cells allow air to pass freely in and out of the leaf during the day and at night, when their cell walls straighten, the opening narrow.

There is layer of cells called spongy cells into which the air reaches through the stomata. Above the spongy cells, there are usually one or two rows of palisade cells. These are long, slender cells closely packed together.

Leaves have veins. They usually run through the middle of the leaf, between the spongy and palisade layers. The xylem and phloem tubes, which bring in water and carry away food, are found in the veins.

The spongy and palisade cells contain chlorophyll. This vital substance is located in hundreds of microscopic chloroplasts, or ‘green bodies.’ There are a few chloroplasts in the guard cells too.

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The green hands of a plant, the leaves, look so simple and plain at the first glance. However, there is intense activity going on in them, much like inside a factory!

Food for the entire plant is produced in the leaves, in the form of sugar. The special green substance called chlorophyll helps leaves in the process of food production. Chlorophyll needs sunlight, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil to produce sugar. The process of leaves producing food is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis literally means ‘putting together light’.

Therefore, leaves manufacture sugar, like factories. The manufacturing process in the leaves is not simple. Much like in a factory, the plant collects raw materials such as carbon dioxide and water through their leaves and roots. The water from the roots goes to the leaves through the stem and branches.

How do they prepare the food, though? Chlorophyll, the green substance, helps the leaves transform sunshine into energy. Leaves need this energy in order to transform minerals in the water and carbon dioxide from the air to sugar. There can be waste material in the cooking process too! The remaining air along with extra oxygen thrown out through small opening called stomata on the underside of the leaf.

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Trees have long leaves. However, their leaves do not. They fall off the trees in course of time. Shedding of leaves occur due to many reasons.

In cold climates, the days are shorter during autumn and winter. Therefore, the leaves do not get sufficient sunlight to prepare food for the plant. In the event of scarcity of food for a tree, it has to conserve its energy. Leaves, which do not manufacture food and only consume it, are a liability for the tree now. The tree, then, has no other alternative but no shed its leaves!

In extreme cold, when trees are exposed to frost, shedding of leaves is kind of defense against the cold. If there were leaves, more area of the tree would be affected! In addition, trees need rest too. When there are too many leaves, they keep the roots of the plant busy by demanding more water and nutrients from soil for preparing food. However, when these ‘little food factories’ close down, the roots are much relieved! Evergreen plants shed leaves regularly as the leaves mature and get old and therefore have to be replaced by new ones.

During the season of autumn, which comes between summer and winter, temperatures gradually decrease. In the United States, autumn season is known as ‘fall’ because that is when leaves fall of trees.

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We usually think of leaves as being green in colour. Are they always? Not really. If you observe carefully, you will notice that from the time a leaf is unfolded, to the moment it falls of a branch, it undergoes a change in colouration.

In cold countries, leaves become yellow, brown, orange and red in the passage of seasons. This phenomenon usually happens at the turn of summer and fall or autumn seasons. Why does this happen?

We know that chlorophyll, the green pigment, causes the green colour in leaves. In cold countries, the leaves of trees become busy during summer manufacturing food for the entire tree with the help of chlorophyll.

However, when winter approaches, and days are shorter, food production in the leaves does not happen as often as it used to be. The tree starts using the food that it has stored in its trunk and branches.

In winter, preparing food becomes impossible for leaves and thus plants ‘shut down’ their food factory! As a result, the chlorophyll present in the leaves becomes of no use; it breaks down and disintegrates. Other pigments, such as xanthophyll- yellow in colour, carotin-orange in colour and anthocyanin-red, start appearing on the leaf. These colours were dominated by the green colour so far. When green is weak, the leaves shine in these bright and brilliant colours.

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Can you tell the difference between the leaf of a mango tree and that of a jack fruit tree by examining them? The shape and appearance of leaves varies from tree to tree. Some leaves are rough and jagged, while some others are smooth and soft. The blades of leaves may be simple and undivided or divided in multiple counts.

The leaves of a drumstick plant are very small. They are arranged in a single vein separately. There are other patterns of leaves as well. They may appear alternatively or in pairs. Leaves arranged in pairs may face the same way, or are at right angles to each other.

All trees have leaves; however, their uniqueness gives identity to the tree and adds beauty to nature.

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Leaves have very small opening on their surface. Such openings or pores are known as stomata. Stomata generally appear on the underside of the leaves. However, water lilies and other plants that have floating leaves, have stomata on top of their leaves. The purpose of these little pores is to allow gases to go in and out of the leaves. Guard cells control the passage of gases through stomata.

The amount of gases going in and out of a leaf is controlled by guard cells. These openings, or special pores called stomata, are placed on either side of the leaf’s open surface.

Leaves manufacture sugar with the help of chlorophyll in the guard cells during the day time. The sugar attracts water into the cells making them balloon out on the side opposite the pores. When this happens, the pores become open as more carbon dioxide is allowed to move in and more oxygen is released in to the air.

At night, the absence of sunlight prevents photosynthesis. Therefore, no sugar is produced, and the sugar level in the guard cells goes down. No water is allowed into the guard cells, and the pores remain closed. As a result, the movement of gases is limited.

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Have you ever collected leaves as a hobby? Even if you have not, just observing plants would make you wonder at the variety of leaves of various plants. Leaves range from the miniscule to the massive, the thinnest to the thickest and the simplest to the strangest. They all do one fundamental job for the plant: manufacture food. However, there are some structural differences among the different kinds of leaves.

An important distinction among leaves is in the way their veins, which carry water and nutrients to the leaves are deployed, and distribute the food manufactured by them. In some leaves, the veins form a network of branches in some leaves. However, in some others, they angle out from a prominent central vein originate from the base of the leaf and are evenly arranged.

There is also a contrast in the way leaves are attached to twigs. Some leaves grow opposite one another or in an alternating pattern. Some trees have compound leaves. The drumstick plant, for example, has small leaflets attached to a central stem, which in turn, is joined to the twig. Leaflets extend to the sides in some trees. However, in some others, the leaves spread out like a fan.

Leaves appear in an incredible variety of sizes and shapes. However, they are all united by a basic function: the production of food for the plant.

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            Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants make food for themselves and indirectly, for all animals, including human beings.

            In photosynthesis plants combine water and salts in the soil, and carbon dioxide in the air to build up organic compounds, such as sugar starch and proteins. To do this they use the energy of sun light, which is absorbed with the help of the green dye in their leaves called chlorophyll.

            This process of manufacturing food from what they absorb through their roots and leaves make green plants the primary food producers in the world. All animals draw their nourishment from them, either by feeding on plants themselves or by eating other animals that do so. During photosynthesis, which takes place only in daylight, excess oxygen is produced and released into the atmosphere for animals to breathe.

            After the Second World War, the American scientist Melvin Calvin wrote a book about how plants capture the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In 1961 he received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in recognition of his work.

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            You would find a Red Giant on the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California in North America. It is a huge redwood tree, called a giant sequoia. These trees, members of the conifer family, are the largest in the world and grow to a height of 300 feet. They have a very hard, reddish brown wood and a thick, very rough bark. The giant sequoias were believed to be the oldest living things in the world. The ring marks on the stumps of the oldest trunks have been carefully counted and it is now known that some of the biggest are about 4,000 years.

              Many of these trees were cut down for their timber, which is resistant to attacks by fungus, and termites and other insects. To preserve the remaining groves of these huge redwoods, a reservation called the Sequoia National park was set up in 1890. The largest tree there is 272 feet high and has a circumference at the base of its trunk of 101(1/2) feet. Its weight has been estimated to be over 6,000 tons.

           Some of the other trees are taller but do not have such large trunks. A tunnel has been cut through the base of one of these giant trees which is big enough to drive a car through.

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The sepals of a flower protect it while it is in bud. The flower is really a kind of shoot, In which the leaves have been altered so that they can take on the task of producing seeds.

    In a simple flower these leaves are arranged in circles, called whorls. The outermost are five green, leaf-shaped sepals. Inside these are five petals, usually heart-shaped, each with a small flap at its base where nectar is produced to attract bees and other insects.

     Both the sepals and the petals are attached at their bases to the “receptacle”, the swollen end of the flower-stalk, which looks like a cone in the middle of the flower.

    Above the sepals and petals are the parts of the flower used in reproduction. These are the stamens, which contain the yellow pollen, and the carpels, which contain the ovules.

   Most flowers are built on this plan but there are wide variations in size, shape and colour, and in the numbers of the different parts of the flowers.

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Many Japanese trees are small because they are dwarfed by the Japanese art of bonsai. This art consists in training and growing dwarf trees as symbols of the Japanese ideal of the immersion of the self in nature. This ideal also finds expression in their poetry, the tea ceremony and flower arranging.

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Fertilizers are used on farms to increase crop yields by ensuring that soils contain the chemical elements required by growing plants. These chemical elements include oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, magnesium, and iron. If soils are lacking in any of these, the deficiency can be made good by the right fertilizer.

     Until the 119th century, farmers relied mainly on the application of natural fertilizers put “goodness” back into the land. They used manure from the stock-yards and, in the case of coastal areas, seaweed from the shore. Lime was also applied to prevent acidity. This method of soil rejuvenation went a long way to maintain the presence of chemical elements. But it often did little to improve soils already lacking in certain chemicals.

      Nowadays soils are analyzed to find out deficiencies which can be made up by the application of the appropriate chemical fertilizers. Of course, the chemicals alone do not guarantee a successful crop. The continued application of the natural fertilizers, such as manure and humans (decayed vegetables matter) is also essential.

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           Some plants capture insects and other tiny animals and use them as food. They do not devour their prey by chewing but decompose them in a mixture of enzymes. The pitcher plant attracts an insect to its large showy leaf by means of sweet-smelling nectar. The leaf has a treacherous lip which precipitates the unwary victim into a deep hollow pitcher full of digestive “broth”, which soon decomposes its body. Other plants, like the Venus’s flytrap, snap their leaves shut on their prey as it prowls about the trigger hairs glistening with drops of nectar. The sundews secrete a sticky fluid.

A loofah is a fibrous, cylinder-shaped vegetable product often used in bathrooms as a kind of rough sponge or gentle brush. It is the dries interior of the fruit of a plant known to botanists as Luffa aegyptiaca. Less dignified, though more descriptive, names for this tropical climbing or trailing herb are dishcloth gourd and vegetable gourd.

     The Luffa belongs to the great gourd family of plants, and its 800 relations include the cucumber, the melon and the pumpkin. In spite of having an unpleasant smell, the Luffa is cultivated in Egypt (hence the second part of its Latin name) and in Arabia, India and china. The yellow-flowered climbers can sometimes be seen adorning the trunks of palm trees. Besides being used to make loofahs, the luffa’s fruit is eaten in curry.

     The development of man-made materials has led to a decline in the loofah’s popularity, but many people still use its slightly abrasive qualities to stimulate the skin.

      The breadfruit tree is found in the South Pacific Islands and, to a lesser, degree, in other parts of the tropics. It is an extremely handsome tree, growing up to 60 feet high. The oval leaves are a pleasant, glossy green and quite large.

      There are two distinct forms of breadfruit, one seedless and the other containing many seeds which, when boiled or roasted, taste much like chestnuts.

   The breadfruit, which contains a considerable amount of starch, is not really a fruit in the popular sense and is rarely eaten raw. It can be boiled or baked, served with salt, butter or syrup, and even sliced and fried like potatoes.

     Yews have long been associated with religious worship. So it is likely that churches were originally built near the sacred trees rather than the other way round.

     These trees live longer than any other species in Europe and can grow to an enormous size. Many are thought to be well over 1,000years old. Yews were revered by the druids of ancient Britain, France and Irelands and no doubt early Christian missionaries preached in the shelter of the trees before their first churches were built. Hywel Dda Howell the Good a Welsh king, who reigned in the 10th century, set a special value on “consecrated yews”.

   Some yews are even older than the ancient churches beside them, suggesting that the church was built on a spot already devoted to worship. The association continued, and it became traditional for yews to be planted in church yards.

    Also the great age to which yews live caused them to be regarded as a symbol of immortality and, therefore, associated with death, as man only becomes immortal after he dies.

The sweet scent of flowers is designed to attract insects who seek food in the shape of pollen and the fragrant-smelling nectar. This nectar is a solution of sugars produced in little sacs called nectarines at the base of the flower petal.

     The insects have a part in the process of fertilization. Almost all plants perpetuate themselves by means of sexual reproduction, during which a male reproductive cell or sperm fuses with female reproductive cell or egg.

     When bees or other insects visit flowers in search of the sweet-smelling nectar, parts of their hairy bodies become dusted with pollen which contains the male reproductive cells. This rubs off on the flower’s carpels which contain the egg or ovule.

Insects seem to be strongly attracted by sweet scents. In fact, some flowers, such as the meadow sweet, are so highly scented that insects are attracted to them although they have no nectar to offer. Most insect-pollinated flowers have evolved wonderful devices for guiding the movements of that pollen is dusted over the insect’s body

Rainforests are important to all of us, so we must save them. Many groups of people raise money to protect and restore rainforests. The money might be spent replanting trees or teaching farmers how to look after the forest.

Growing crops in small patches helps to protect the soil.

If local farmers learn to grow their crops in a similar way to the forest people, they can stop the thin soil wearing out. Growing patchworks of different plants and trees, instead of just one type, restores nutrients to the soil. Using the land sustainably means that farmers will not need to move on and cut down more rainforest.

People can visit this protected rainforest.

Some rainforests have been turned into National Parks or reserves where it is against the law to cut down the trees. This helps to keep the animals, plants and people that live there safe. Many tourists visit the parks to see the rainforest wildlife.

Continue reading “Rescuing the rainforests”

People who live in rainforests know how to find everything they need. The forest gives them food, shelter, clothes and medicine. In return, they treat the forest with great respect. They take only what they need, without causing any damage.

This man is weaving a roof using palm leaves.

Rainforests throughout the world have been home to various tribes of people for thousands of years. They build their homes using rainforest plants and they hunt for meat, gather fruit and nuts and grow useful plants in their gardens. They use the rainforest in a sustainable way that does not destroy it.

Rainforest is cleared to make cattle farms.

Many people have moved into rainforests, but they use the forest in ways that destroy it. Huge areas of rainforest have been cut down to make way for farmland. But because the nutrients in the thin soil soon wear out, farmers move on to destroy new parts of the forest, leaving behind a bare, infertile piece of land.

This hillside was once covered in trees and packed with wildlife.

When a rainforest is nut down, plants, animals and rainforest people lose their homes. Many species may die out and become extinct. Without the cover of the trees, the thin soil dries up and is washed away by the rain. The land is left like a desert and it is very difficult for rainforest to ever grow there again.

Rainforests only cover a small part of the Earth’s surface but they are sometimes called the lungs of the world. They help control the world’s weather and affect the air we breathe.

Rainforests help to recycle gases in the air.

Trees and other plants breathe in the opposite way to humans and animals. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide (which we breathe out) and breathe out oxygen (which we breathe in). This helps to balance gases in the air and ensures there is plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.

Rainforests soak up the heat from the Sun.

Dark green rainforests absorb the heat and strong sunlight that shines in the tropics. When rainforests are cut down and lighter coloured vegetation grows instead, it creates a mirror effect. Sunlight and heat are reflected back up into the atmosphere causing it to warm up.

Cutting down rainforests is helping to make the Earth warmer.

When rainforests are destroyed, there are fewer trees to remove carbon dioxide from the air, so it starts to build up. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat from the Sun like the glass in a greenhouse. This is called the greenhouse effect and it is making the Earth warmer.

Trees grow fast in the warm, wet rainforest. They race each other upwards to reach the sunlight. Some trees grow much taller than others. They have long, straight trunks and their branches spread out wide at the top of the tree.

Some treetops are as big as a school playground.

Huge trees, called emergents, can grow up to 70 metres tall! Their branches spread out over the forest canopy like an umbrella to make the most of the sunlight and space. They may also take advantage of the greater air movement at the top of the forest by developing winged seeds that can be carried by the wind.

Rainforest trees have large roots to prop them up.

Rainforest trees have large ‘buttress’ roots that spread out wide at their base like a skirt. They support the long trunk and anchor the huge tree firmly in place. The soil in a rainforest is shallow and nutrient-poor, so a tree’s roots fan out wide rather than dig deep.

Monkeys live high up in the treetops.

Monkeys are excellent climbers and leap or swing between branches. They use their strong tail like an extra arm and coil it around branches to help them hold on. A monkey’s tail has a bare patch under the tip, like the skin on the palm of a hand, to help it to grip on tightly.

Some plants trap insects and suck the goodness out of their bodies. Insects go to sundews or flytraps to look for food. When they do, they may be held by sticky hairs or trapped by strong leaves that snap shut like jaws!

This plant feeds on tasty insects.

This plant catches insects on its sticky leaves. Other plants catch insects by looking and smelling good. Pitcher plants do this. The insect goes to the pitcher plant to feed on the nectar. Once inside the plant’s hollow leaf, it cannot climb out because the walls are slippery. It dies in the liquid at the bottom, dissolves and becomes plant food.

Insects stick to the hairs on sundew plants.

This sundew plant oozes sticky juice onto the insect. The insect isn’t strong enough to escape. Its body turns to liquid and the plant absorbs the insect through its leaves!

This Venus flytrap has a fly in its jaws.

This fly has been tricked into stepping onto the leaf of a Venus flytrap while it was searching for nectar. The leafy jaws snap shut when anything touches the hairs. The Venus flytrap kills its victims using a liquid that turns the fly’s body into juice. It can take the flytrap two weeks to digest one fly.

People and animals need plants for food. We can eat all the different parts of plants. We can eat the stem and leaves of some plants, but sometimes we eat the roots, the fruits or the seeds.

We eat some flowers but not others.

Did you know that broccoli and cauliflowers are edible flowers? Capers are edible flower buds. Other flowers are not at all good to eat. It is dangerous to eat some flowers. Eating this iris would make you ill.

Farmers sow seeds. The seeds grow into plants for us to eat.

Farmers water their crops if there is too little rain. They harvest the crops when they are ready. If there is too much rain or wind, or it is too hot or too cold, the crops may be ruined.

Continue reading “Plants as food”

When a seed bursts into life and a new plant begins to grow, it is part of a greater life cycle. The new plant grows and makes new seeds which may grow into new plants. Dead plants also give life to other plants and animals.

Pine cones contain lots of seeds. They contain the information they need to make a new plant.

If the seed lands on soil and has water and light, it may germinate.

With enough light and water, the tiny plant continues to grow.

Continue reading “Seeds life Cycle”

A seed needs water and warmth so it can start to grow into a seedling. Then it needs sunlight, soil and more water so it can grow into a full size plant. If it has too much water it will rot. If it has too little water it will dry out.

This is a bean seed. It grows a root and a shoot.

A seed can look dead, but it is often just dormant. Some seeds can lie dormant for hundreds of years. The time when a seed begins to grow is called germination. The root grows first and then the shoot appears.

Beans can grow in a jar.

Soak some beans in water overnight. The next day, place the bean seeds between blotting paper and the side of a glass jar. Pour in a few centimeters of water. Put the jar on a warm, sunny window-sill. Add a little water each day. Your bean will grow a root and a shoot. When it grows too big for the jar, plant it in soil. If it has flowers and they are fertilized it will make new bean seeds.

Most new plants will grow better if they do not have to share water, soil and sunlight with a bigger plant. When seeds are made, the plant tries to spread its seeds as far away as it can. Animals, the wind and water are used to move seeds to new places.

Some seeds are blown by the wind.

Dandelion seeds are very light and are carried by the wind. They float on the wind instead of falling straight down.

Coconuts are carried away by the sea.

Coconuts have a padded waterproof case so they can travel long distances by sea.

Continue reading “How seeds travel”

Some seeds are so tiny they look just like specks of dust. Others are as big as footballs! Most seeds do not start to grow as soon as they are made. They need to be kept safe inside a fruit or seed case until it is the right time to grow into a new plant.

Most seeds grow inside a seed case or fruit.

The casing that protects a seed can be hard like a nut shell, or soft like an apple or tomato. Each seed case is adapted to help keep the seed safe.

Beans and nuts are seeds.

Inside each seed is a baby plant. This tiny plant already has a root and shoot and the food it needs to begin to grow.

Some trees have two kinds of flowers on them – male flowers and female flowers. These catkins are male flowers. They are covered with pollen. The same tree also has small female flowers.

A holly tree can be male or female.

Holly trees or bushes are either all male or all female. Both male and female holly trees have white flowers. Berries only form on the female trees. To make new plants, there must be a male and female holly tree growing near each other. Insects carry pollen from the male to the female tree.

Both male and female flowers grow on a pine tree.

The male flowers are usually red or purple and the female flowers are often yellow or white. The female flower will become a pine cone if it is fertilized.

Most trees and bushes have flowers.

Some trees have flowers to attract insects, while others use the wind to spread pollen. Trees that use the wind usually have green, feathery flowers that hang from the tree.

Some flowers need birds to help them make seeds. Just like insects, some birds go to brightly coloured flowers in search of nectar. The pollen rubs off onto their beaks and feathers. They carry the pollen to other flowers.

Colourful flowers attract birds.

Birds are heavier than insects and a bird’s beak is hard. Because of this, bird-pollinated flowers are firm and tough. Birds have a poor sense of smell so these flowers don’t need to have a strong scent. Unlike bees, birds are not sensitive to ultra-violet light so flowers must be brightly coloured to attract them.

Humming-birds drink nectar from some flowers.

Some flowers need humming-birds to carry pollen to help them make seeds. Humming-birds also need flowers. They need the sugary nectar in these flowers for energy so that they can beat their wings up to 80 times a second!

Some bats and small animals like to drink nectar.

This tiny honey possum has a long snout and tongue for lapping up nectar from eucalyptus flowers. Its tongue can extend two centimeters from its body even though honey possums are only half the size of a mouse. Pollen rubs off onto the possum’s snout and is carried from one flower to another in this way.

Some flowers have brightly coloured petals. When bees and other insects see these bright colours they go to the flower to search for nectar. Other flowers have strong scents so that insects will go to them.

This bee saw the petals and is looking for nectar.

Insects see differently from humans. Some colours that look dull to us can attract insects to flowers when they are searching for nectar. Some rare flowers are very brightly coloured and have unusual shapes to attract insects who might otherwise ignore them.

Some flowers have strong scents to bring insects to them.

The Buddleia bush smells so sweet and attracts so many butterflies that it is called the ‘butterfly bush’. It is the nectar in the flower that smells sweet. Some flowers, such as the Rafflesia, smell of rotting meat, which attracts flies to them.

An evening primrose looks different to a bee than it does to us.

Bees can see ultra-violet light so they can see flower markings that are invisible to us. The flower markings point towards the nectar, stamens and carpels in the middle of the flower. Some flowers, such as this evening primrose, even advertise a landing platform for bees. This way, plants make sure that plenty of insects visit them.

To make a seed, pollen has to go from the male part of one flower to the female part of another flower. Many flowers have help from insects to move the pollen. Some plants use the wind, birds and other animals to carry pollen.

If a bee goes into this flower, pollen may rub off onto its legs.

When an insect enters a flower, it rubs against the male stamens as it tries to find nectar to feed on. Sticky pollen attaches itself to the insect’s back and legs. The insect then flies to another flower. Some insects are furry to make sure that even more pollen sticks to them.

The bee carries the pollen to the next flower.

Pollination is when a pollen grain lands on the carpel of a flower. Plants that use the wind to transfer pollen must produce thousands of pollen grains. This way, at least some of them reach a carpel.

Pollen joins with an egg to make a seed.

When a pollen grain lands on the sticky carpel, it grows a tube down towards   the female egg. When they join they begin to produce a seed and seed’s casing. This process is called fertilization.

Flowers open out from buds in spring or summer when it is warm and light. Sepals on the buds keep them warm and dry until it is time to open. Sepals are usually green and look like small leaves.

A seed may grow inside the carpel.

Below is a cross-section of a flower and its stem. It shows the parts of flower. A group of carpels is called a pistil. Seeds may eventually form from the egg inside each carpel. Not all flowers have both the male and female parts.

The petals are orange and the sepals are green.

Most flowers are made of four parts – sepals, petals, carpels and stamens. The sepals protect the flower bud. After the bud has opened, the sepals have done their job and may fall off. Petals are often brightly coloured. They surround and protect the carpel and stamens inside them. There is sugary nectar in the base of most flowers.

You can see the yellow pollen on the stamens.

The stamens are the male part of the flower. Stamens produce pollen. The carpel is the female part of the flower. In this photo, the carpel is in the middle of the stamens. Some flowers have only one carpel. But others have many.

Flowers are many shapes, sizes and colours. Some are big and colourful. Others are tiny. Some flowers look like leaves. Even trees and grasses have flowers. Most plants have flowers so they can make seeds. Seeds can grow into new plants.

This big pink rose is easy to see.

The goal of every plant is to make the next generation of plants. Most plants do this by producing seeds. Flowers contain all the parts that a plant needs to make seeds. Insects and animals help too. This flower’s bright colour and strong sweet scent make it easy for them to spot.

This is the world’s biggest flower.

The Rafflesia flower is the world’s biggest flower. It is found in the jungles of Malaysia and can grow up to one metre wide. Instead of growing in the ground, it attaches itself to other plants. It smells of rotting meat!

One sunflower is made of lots of ting flowers.

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes. Tulips have one bell-shaped flower at the top of the stem. Foxgloves have lots of flowers all the way up the stem. A sunflower looks like one big flower. If you look closely you will see that it is made up of lots of tiny flowers, called florets.

Most living things need air to live. You cannot see the air, nut it is all around you. You can feel it when the wind blows. Animals and plants breathe in and out all the time. Without air they would die. Plants need to breathe so they can make food.

Animals and plants need different parts of the air.

Air is made up of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide. They use the carbon to make food and release oxygen back into the air. Plants do not breathe in and out in the same way as animals. Instead, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air.

Continue reading “How do plants breathe?”

Plants make their own food. They do this in the green parts of their leaves. Most plants need sunlight to make food, so they grow toward the sun. Plants also need air and water to make their sugary food.

Plants only make food in the daytime when there is light.

To make food in their green leaves plants need water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. A chemical in leaves called chlorophyll absorbs the energy from sunlight. It uses this energy to turn the carbon dioxide and water into sugar. It is chlorophyll that makes leaves look green.

Sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun as it crosses the sky.

Plants compete with each other for light. They angle their leaves and flowers to catch as much sunlight as possible. If there is not enough light, they grow tall and thin.

This picture shows how plants make food.

Plants need sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food. The way plants make their sugary food is called photosynthesis.

Most plants have flowers so they can make seeds. There is a new plant with a tiny root and shoot inside every seed. There is also some food for the new plant in the seed. A seed needs water and light so it can start to grow.

Plants need sunlight, soil and water to grow.

Once a seed has begun to sprout it usually needs soil, water and sunlight so it can grow from a seedling into a healthy plant. Some plants make new plants by sending out stems that grow roots and turn into new plants. The shoots they send out are called runners.

Tulips grow from a bulb.

Some new plants grow from bulbs or corms. An onion is a bulb. When a bulb first grows, the new plant gets energy from the leaves of the bulb.

Bean plants grow from a seed.

Seeds do not grow until the conditions are right. When a seed finds the right conditions, it will grow a root and a shoot. Some coconut palm seeds float out at sea for months before they reach a place to grow.

Plants grow all over the world. They make the best use they can of the soil, water and sunlight. Where it is hot and wet, the trees grow very tall. Where it is cold and windy, the plants are very small.

These plants grow on a mountain.

Alpine plants have small leaves and thick stems to help them survive on a cold, windy mountainside.

These trees grow in hot, wet places.

Trees in hot, steamy rainforests must be tall to reach the sunlight.

Seaweed grows in the sea.

Seaweed has adapted to living in salt water. Some seaweed has pockets filled with air on its leaves. This helps it to float near the surface so that sunlight can reach it.

This plant is growing on another plant.

This is a mistletoe plant. It is growing on an apple tree. It has green leaves so it can make its own food, but it also takes food and water from the tree. It grows high up on the tree so it has plenty of light. Mistletoe does not usually kill the plant it lives on. If the apple tree dies, so does the mistletoe.

Plants can live almost anywhere. They live in dry deserts. It may not rain there for years. Cactus plants can live in hot deserts. They have thin, sharp leaves, thick skins and long roots. They suck up water from far under the ground.

This is a very large cactus. It stores water in its thick stem.

Deserts can be cold and dry or hot and dry. Plants can live in both hot and cold deserts, but they have to be very tough. They need a way to store water for a long time. They do this by having a thick stem and skin, and thin spikes instead of broad leaves. Thin leaves lose less water than broad leaves.

Some plants survive in muddy swamps.

Mangrove trees grow along tropical coasts in salt water. Mangroves have branches which send roots down into the water. Eventually, the stilt – like roots support the leafy tree above the water and hold it safely in place.

Seeds survive for a long time in the dry desert.

When rain falls on a hot desert, plants spring to life. Seeds buried in the sand grow into flowering plants. In just a few weeks they can produce seeds and die back. The seeds lie dormant in the ground for many months until the next rains.

Trees are the biggest plants of all. There are three kinds of trees – palm, evergreen and deciduous trees. The trunk of a tree is covered with bark. You can tell the age of a tree by counting the rings on a tree stump. Some trees can live for 4,000 years!

Some trees keep their leaves all year. They are evergreen.

Most pine and fir trees are evergreen. They have cones and are called conifers. Cones are the flowers of the conifer tree. The leaves on conifers are called needles. A few needles drop off every day and new ones grow all year round.

Some trees lose all their leaves in autumn.

In autumn, the weather becomes colder and there are fewer hours of sunshine. This makes the leaves of some trees change colour and fall off. Trees that lose all their leaves after they turn brown in the autumn are called deciduous trees. Oak and beech trees are deciduous.

Roots grow down to find water.

A tree’s roots can spread wider under the ground than the branches spread above the ground.