Facts About Plants

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Actually, plants don’t need an introduction. There is no life on the earth without plants. They provide the oxygen and they keep the planet alive. They also form the basis of all the food webs. Most plants create their own food with the help of carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.

Fact 1) The earth has more than 80,000 species of edible plants – Yes, you heard it right. Isn’t it odd that we eat few plants despite having 80,000 edible plants on the mother earth? May be you need to look around to find them. The search is worth the trouble.

Fact 2) Coast Redwood is the tallest growing tree in the world – This tree grows along the pacific coast of the United States. You can see this tree mainly in California. However, you shouldn’t confuse it with the world’s oldest growing tree. That recognition goes to bristlecone pine. Coat Redwood is also known as Sequoia Sempervirens.

Fact 3) Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant – If you haven’t noticed already, bamboo holds this rare recognition. It can grow up to 35 inches in just one day!! That’s really impressive!

Fact 4) Over 70,000 plant species are used for medicinal purposes – We stated earlier that humans are not very enthusiastic when it comes to exploring the 80,000 edible plants. But when it comes to medicinal plants, human beings are very keen to learn about them. But large percentage of these plants is used for preparing traditional medicine. Modern medicine hasn’t shown enough excitement to explore plants. Studies reveal that half of the medicine prescribed in the United States used plants as main ingredient. The plants from rainforest are very popular in the preparation of medicines.

Fact 5) Studies conducted on only 1% of rainforest plants for their medicinal potential – As stated before, plants from rainforests possess great medicinal values. Scientists have the opinion that rainforests have all the plants to cure all the diseases in the world. But the lack of research has stopped human beings from taking advantage of these medicinal plants. We need to put more resources in to learning more about these magical plants!

Fact 6) We have already destroyed 80% of the earth’s original forests – It is a shocking revelation, isn’t it? All thanks to thoughtless human intervention, we have lost 80% of the earth’s original forests. That should bring our attention to the number of plant species got disappeared from the face of the earth as a result. Protecting these plants should be our main concern if we want to live on this plant.

Fact 7) We have protected only 10% of the bio diverse areas of the world – We are talking about the official protection here. It’s a shame that only the 10% of the bio diverse areas are protected in the world. We are talking about both plants and animals. Do you know what is worse? These ‘protected areas’ hardly protect the bio diversity. They put no control on the external factors which destroy the bio diversity.

Fact 8) Ohio’s official state beverage is tomato juice – Is there any particular reason behind this? Yes, there is. Ohio played a big role in popularizing tomato in the late 1800s. So, now you know why Ohio loves tomatoes!

Fact 9) 80% of Amazonian plants are in danger of going extinct – Amazon has about 50,000n plant species. Of which, 4500 are in danger of going extinct in next 40 years all thanks to land-use changes.

Fact 10) Archeologists say that Mesopotamia grew grapes to make wine about 8,000 years ago – Several studies say that Egyptians were the first to record the process of making wine (happened about 5,000 years ago). This secret reveals the wine obsession starting from Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) civilization.

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