Fun Plant Encyclopedia

Author: Dong Renwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Plants and animals constitute the vibrant natural scenery in the macro world. Especially the green plants spread across the entire Earth, forming forests and sprawling lawns. From the ice-covered Antarctica to the humid tropical rainforests; from the blue oceans to the arid deserts, all plants miraculously grow and reproduce. Plants adorn nature with their diversity. What are plants? Their definition remains elusive. Generally, plants are characterized by containing chlorophyll and obtaining nutrients through photosynthesis, with exceptions like fungi, saprophytes, and parasitic plants. Additionally, plant cell walls contain cellulose, making them tough and rigid, lacking motile organs, typically rooted in one place, and devoid of sensory organs and nervous systems. Of course, there are exceptions—some plants can move, like tumbleweeds and resurrection plants; some possess apparent sensory organs and nervous systems; and some even have blood types like animals, and so on. These exceptions make many plants particularly fascinating. Biologists are preparing to establish a new classification system, which will exclude fungi from the plant kingdom due to their lack of the defining plant characteristic—chlorophyll-based nutrition through photosynthesis—instead classifying them under the microbial and fungal kingdoms. Currently, the plant classification system used in botany divides plants into two major categories: lower plants and higher plants. Lower plants are divided into three types: algae, fungi, and lichens. Morphologically, they lack differentiation into roots, stems, and leaves, also known as thalloid plants; structurally, they lack tissue differentiation, with reproductive organs being unicellular, and the zygote develops without leaving the mother body, not forming an embryo, hence also called apomicts. There are now approximately 156,000 species of lower plants, of which fungi account for about 120,000. Higher plants, with differentiated roots, stems, and leaves, are also known as tracheophytes. Structurally, they have tissue differentiation, with multicellular reproductive organs, and the zygote develops into an embryo within the mother body, thus also called embryophytes. Higher plants include three types: mosses, ferns, and seed plants, with about 275,000 species worldwide, 90% of which are seed plants. China has nearly 30,000 species of higher plants, accounting for over 10% of the global total, ranking third in the world after Malaysia and Brazil.
"Heaven has created all things for the sake of mankind." One of the essential elements plants provide to humans is oxygen in the air. Through photosynthesis, they absorb carbon dioxide—the waste gas exhaled by humans—day after day, producing the oxygen humans cannot live without, thereby providing high-quality air rich in oxygen. Plants use their roots to protect soil and water, regulate climate, and prevent natural disasters such as soil erosion, desertification, and landslides. With their entire bodies, plants provide humans with food, vegetables, fruits, beverages, clothing, and industrial raw materials. Plants use their colorful flowers to offer humans spiritual enjoyment. Plants have given much to humanity.
However, "How can one repay Heaven?" For short-term selfish gains, forests are massively cut down, and wild economic plants are (plundered), turning green mountain peaks into bare heads: deforestation for agriculture, grassland destruction for farming, and lake encroachment for farmland have drastically reduced the areas of forests, grasslands, and lakes, worsening the living space of plants, pushing many plant species to the brink of extinction, and allowing desertification, sandstorms, and massive floods to run rampant.
For the sake of our Mother Earth, for our beloved plant siblings and sisters, and to protect our human living environment, we should treat plants with kindness. Currently, citizens of the global village are gradually reaching a consensus on treating plants with respect. More and more endangered plant species are being protected, and more nature reserves are being established. The movement to return farmland to forests and grasslands is gaining momentum. We believe that as long as we treat plants kindly, plants will reward us even more.