The Plant Kingdom

Plant life gives us a picture that has a history older than animal life. Fossilised remains of one-celled and simple organisms that are plant-like have been found in rocks dating even before the animal kingdom came into being.. Plants are one of the foundations for animal life and they have the capacity to produce their own food by a process that we know as `photosynthesis’. Energy from sunlight is absorbed by the plants as they use the green colouring matter known as chlorophyll. They also absorb carbon dioxide from the air while they absorb water which is mineral laden from the soil. Using the sunlight’s energy, plants convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and various other chemical substances. Animals are not able to do this and they have to eat plants or other animals that have fed on plants in order to be nourished. The select few plants that do not produce their own food are fungi. They depend on other sources. Plants include the oldest and the biggest living things on Planet Earth. Take for example, the giant sequoias of California USA; they are the heaviest living things and they weigh up to ten times as much the largest animals; an example being the blue whale. The oldest living sequoias are easily estimated to be four thousand years old. The bristlecone pines that grow in the eastern parts of Nevada are dated around five thousand years old. These trees live long, too if they have favourable conditions. In contrast, the lifespan of the oldest known animals such as the giant tortoises is under two-hundred years. Plants have evolved over the years to adapt to changing conditions on earth. Some species are living fossils and have changed very little with time. One plant , as an example, is the ginkgo which is also known as the maidenhair tree. Where the climate is cold and the winds are strong, plants are short in size like the lichens, dwarf shrubs and mosses and the Arctic tundra trees. In the humid conditions of the vegetation of the tropics, the trees are lush and tall. Plants that have to live in dry conditions have adapted ro store moisture and lose very little by evaporation amidst hot sunshine. An example could be the cacti that have succulent and a water-storing body and a waxy and thick outer covering. Some desert plants have the ability to survive even in a dead state when they survive months of drought. An example id the Rose of Jericho in the desert conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean region. It loses its leaves in dry weather and blows in the desert like loose and twiggy balls. When the weather is moist and it rains; the plant will open up and produces leaves with the help of its roots and stem. In the deserts, the trees will have root systems that are wide-spreading and they will grow well apart so that they are not competing directly for the scarce moisture that there may be in the soil. In the tropics with their lush forests, conversely, the plants will grow quite close to each other and they will also grow rapidly. Some bamboo plants are expected to grow almost up to three feet in a day. It is a known fact that plants usually compete with each other for the sunshine and water that is available to them. The lichen plant is unique as it cooperates with other plants for its survival. It consists of an alga and fungus that exist together. The fungus absorbs water but cannot make its own food by means of photosynthesis. It is the alga that makes its food but it needs water. In unity, they make the most of both moisture and sunshine available to them. You will find lichens surviving in places where many plants would find it difficult, like the surface of rocks, the intense heat of the deserts and the sharp cold of the tundra. Lichens are also among the longest living plants and can survive for more than four thousand years. The plants need nitrogen element and they absorb that from the soil. There are some flowering plants that have survived by supplementing inadequate supply of nitrogen by getting it from the bodies of insects under the ground. The carnivorous plants have a selection of lures and traps with which they catch their victims. An interesting plant is the Venus’ Flytrap that has leaves in halves of two that are hinged together. They are open but when an insect lands in the trap section gets trapped when it touches sensitive portions of the plant. The two halves snap shut when such a touch is triggered and the insect gets caught and digested over a period of many days. When this process gets completed, the trap opens again and the remains of the insects are blown away in the wind. In the plant kingdom, the largest living things in the world are the giant sequoia trees. In particular, General Sherman is the largest and the tallest. This tree is in Sequoia Park in California, USA. Besides being the tallest tree in the world, it also contains the largest volume of timber than any other tree. It is one of the oldest living entities on this planet. The top part of the General Sherman tree has been damaged when it was struck by lightning. Mangrove trees thrive in shallow and salty water and they gain their extra support in their habitat by putting down roots from their lower branches in the form of a series of stilts in the shape of flying buttresses. An example is a swamp of mangrove on the shores of River Tana in Kenya, Africa. The network of their root structures helps in trapping nourishing silt and vegetable debris. The plant that has the largest leaves is the Amazon giant water lily. It is called Victoria Regia. The leaves are tray-shaped and they can grow and spread up to six feet across. They are found in the backwaters of the Amazon River. They are covering the water surface for more than a mile. A deep vein network on the underside of these leaves creates a series of air pockets that help the leaves to float. They can support the weight of an infant. They were first found in British Guyana around 1837 and were named after Queen Victoria. The pink and rose coloured flowers of Victoria Regia are large and they can be as big as three feet in circumference. They later develop into fruit that could be as big as the size of a man’s head. Around the 1500s, a big flower called the passion flower was discovered by Christian priests in Latin America. This flower has a remarkable blossom and the flower got its name as it appeared to symbolise the suffering of Jesus and the five petals and five sepals were the ten apostles while the corona in the middle represented the crown of thorns.