Plants

People and animals could not live without plants.

Some plants are very beautiful.  
Like the flowers on the left.  
Other plants are not as beautiful,
but they are very important.

Plants provide food and shelter.

People eat plants, like carrots, potatoes, bananas--you know, all those vegetables and fruits.  And people use plants to make their homes and their furniture.

Trees provide the wood to make the 
boards to build houses.
Trees provide the wood to make furniture.

Trees are also used to make many other useful things.
For instance, we use trees to make paper. 
We use trees to make rubber tires. 
And we use trees to make certain medicines.

The list of uses for trees is very long.

Plants come in all sizes.  Some are very, very tiny.
Some are huge, like trees.

Plants, even trees, come from seeds.
Have you noticed the seeds inside of an apple,
or an orange?  Did you know that you are eating
seeds when you eat peas or corn or beans?

To grow, seeds need 3 things:  moisture, nutrients, and light.
Moisture comes from water, of course. 
Nutrients come from the soil.
Light comes from the sun.

Plants are different in how much light they need. 
Some plants prefer shady places. 
Other plants like all the sunshine they can get.
Some plants like lots of water--like pond lilies. 
Other plants don't like much water at all--like cactuses.
And, plants are different in how much nutrition they need.
Some plants want lots of nutrients, so we fertilize them. 
Other plants don't take much nutrition at all.

All of these differences are very important. 
Different kinds of plants make it possible for humans
and animals to live in many different kinds of places.

That is why we grow plants and take care of them.
People and animals can not live without them.

To learn more about plants and how important they are, click here.