Monday, March 22, 2010
The Impotance of Plants - Posted by Alan Branhagen, Director of Horticulture
I couldn’t be happier about the new mission recently adopted by the Powell Gardens board:
“Powell Gardens is an experience that embraces the Midwest’s spirit of place and inspires an appreciation for the importance of plants in our lives.”
The Heartland Harvest Garden, currently under construction, helped inspire the revision. We want it to be America’s premier edible landscape and know it must be beautiful but it also must be educational, fun and provide the 5th element of our senses (often lacking in public gardens): taste.
It will have an open, spacious skies design like the fruited plain that is the Midwest. But it goes well beyond that and I have an extraordinary, long-time Powell Gardens friend, supporter and volunteer to thank for that – it’s Dr. Norlan Henderson. Doc, age 90-something, still drops by nearly every day after driving out from Kansas City. He always stops in my office and asks: what is the most important chemical process on earth? If you answered photosynthesis you would be correct.
Doc, a long-time teacher and professor emeritus in botany at the University of Missouri Kansas City states that he has failed to teach people that we owe our utter existence to green plants. All the food we eat and the air we breathe would not be possible without them. He reminds me that photosynthesis cannot be done in a lab but requires the green plants living cell. He is so excited about our Heartland Harvest Garden because it will literally show the plants that sustain us and help us all maybe “to get” the big picture. (More on Doc and his Iris at another time.)
We know from many studies that plants do many other things beyond our physical sustenance. Hospitals with views of living landscapes have patients that recover more quickly. Schools and housing surrounded by grass and trees have residents less violent and with greater self esteem. Plant filled “greenspace” is cooler than the built “hardscape”. Trees and plants hold the soil, filter pollutants, and absorb water runoff. We know that a long time ago the southern side of the Mediterranean was once the world’s breadbasket but is now claimed by the Sahara and that replanting appropriate trees, shrubs and grasses there is slowing and reclaiming desertification! All big stuff to ponder but I know you all have a story about how plants are important in your lives. We would love to hear it.
Posted by Alan Branhagen, Director of Horticulture
“Powell Gardens is an experience that embraces the Midwest’s spirit of place and inspires an appreciation for the importance of plants in our lives.”
The Heartland Harvest Garden, currently under construction, helped inspire the revision. We want it to be America’s premier edible landscape and know it must be beautiful but it also must be educational, fun and provide the 5th element of our senses (often lacking in public gardens): taste.
It will have an open, spacious skies design like the fruited plain that is the Midwest. But it goes well beyond that and I have an extraordinary, long-time Powell Gardens friend, supporter and volunteer to thank for that – it’s Dr. Norlan Henderson. Doc, age 90-something, still drops by nearly every day after driving out from Kansas City. He always stops in my office and asks: what is the most important chemical process on earth? If you answered photosynthesis you would be correct.
Doc, a long-time teacher and professor emeritus in botany at the University of Missouri Kansas City states that he has failed to teach people that we owe our utter existence to green plants. All the food we eat and the air we breathe would not be possible without them. He reminds me that photosynthesis cannot be done in a lab but requires the green plants living cell. He is so excited about our Heartland Harvest Garden because it will literally show the plants that sustain us and help us all maybe “to get” the big picture. (More on Doc and his Iris at another time.)
We know from many studies that plants do many other things beyond our physical sustenance. Hospitals with views of living landscapes have patients that recover more quickly. Schools and housing surrounded by grass and trees have residents less violent and with greater self esteem. Plant filled “greenspace” is cooler than the built “hardscape”. Trees and plants hold the soil, filter pollutants, and absorb water runoff. We know that a long time ago the southern side of the Mediterranean was once the world’s breadbasket but is now claimed by the Sahara and that replanting appropriate trees, shrubs and grasses there is slowing and reclaiming desertification! All big stuff to ponder but I know you all have a story about how plants are important in your lives. We would love to hear it.
Posted by Alan Branhagen, Director of Horticulture
General Information on Importance of Plants and Animals in Human Life
1) They produce food for all organisms
2) They provide beneficial substances like drugs, tannins, fibres, rubber, vegetable oils, fuel, condiments.
3) Some plants contain alkaloids which check growth of cancer cells.
Example: Rosy periwinkle.
2) They provide beneficial substances like drugs, tannins, fibres, rubber, vegetable oils, fuel, condiments.
3) Some plants contain alkaloids which check growth of cancer cells.
Example: Rosy periwinkle.
What is the importance of plants to all living things?
Answer : Plants provides us with oxygen.
They gives us food.
They helps in preventing floods because it absorbs the water.
It also holds the soil to avoid landslides.
They gives us food.
They helps in preventing floods because it absorbs the water.
It also holds the soil to avoid landslides.
Importance of plants in medicine
Plant extracts contain many chemical compounds which are biologically active within the human body. For centuries humans have used plants and plant extracts to treat various disease conditions and more recently to produce new drugs. Still most of the plants carry a large number of unidentified compounds which can be really useful of making new drugs and for the identification of lead compounds. This can be very important in making new treatments available to diseases like AIDS.
Importance of plants
Plants are important for human life in many ways. Without plants animal life on the planet earth would be almost impossible.
Importance of plants as a food source
Plants make up the largest proportion in our diet. Plants are much more important than the larger trees for this purpose since in many countries the staple diet comes from rice or wheat.
Importance of plants to maintain the balance in the echo-system
Plants are really necessary to maintain the balance in the echo-system. For an instance plants are necessary to cycle C on the planet. CO2 in the air taken in to the plants and stored in the carbohydrates. In the present time human activities have reduced the amount of plants on the planet. So all the cycles are now changing. Because of this now the humans feel the importance of plants more and more.
Importance of plants as a food source
Plants make up the largest proportion in our diet. Plants are much more important than the larger trees for this purpose since in many countries the staple diet comes from rice or wheat.
Importance of plants to maintain the balance in the echo-system
Plants are really necessary to maintain the balance in the echo-system. For an instance plants are necessary to cycle C on the planet. CO2 in the air taken in to the plants and stored in the carbohydrates. In the present time human activities have reduced the amount of plants on the planet. So all the cycles are now changing. Because of this now the humans feel the importance of plants more and more.
Plants for food
Undoubtedly, the most important use of plants is for food. Almost everything you eat is either from plants, or is a result of plants. As plants lock the sun's energy in the bonds of glucose molecules, this building block can be used by humans and all animals for food and energy.
Glucose is essentially sugar, and is made up of elements like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. When these glucose molecules link together in long chains, they form the insoluble carbohydrate storage unit called starch.
Starch is stored by the plant as an energy reserve, although we simply think of it as food. Potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are all starch and are basically our main sources of energy.
Our body breaks starch down into glucose again to be used for respiration.
Plants can't survive on starch alone. Like us, they require amino acids to make proteins for growth and repair, and fats as an energy storage, or in the case of plants, as oil, seeds and nuts.
While carbohydrates, oil and fats are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, proteins require an additional element: nitrogen. Plants uptake this predominantly in the form of nitrates in the soil. They take in nitrates through their roots, along with phosphates and sulphate.
Basically, with a few added nutrients, glucose created during photosynthesis is the basis for all other organic substances, and is the source of all of our food.
Glucose is essentially sugar, and is made up of elements like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. When these glucose molecules link together in long chains, they form the insoluble carbohydrate storage unit called starch.
Starch is stored by the plant as an energy reserve, although we simply think of it as food. Potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are all starch and are basically our main sources of energy.
Our body breaks starch down into glucose again to be used for respiration.
Plants can't survive on starch alone. Like us, they require amino acids to make proteins for growth and repair, and fats as an energy storage, or in the case of plants, as oil, seeds and nuts.
While carbohydrates, oil and fats are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, proteins require an additional element: nitrogen. Plants uptake this predominantly in the form of nitrates in the soil. They take in nitrates through their roots, along with phosphates and sulphate.
Basically, with a few added nutrients, glucose created during photosynthesis is the basis for all other organic substances, and is the source of all of our food.
Plants - Mother Earth's Lungs
Major areas of forests, especially the temperate and tropical rainforests, are referred to as the Earth's lungs. In contrast to our lungs, which take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, plants, when undergoing photosynthesis, take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
This maintains the balance of gases in the atmosphere, by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and slowing the threat of global warming by producing much needed clean, fresh oxygen. In fact, if we continue to cut down the forests at the current rate, global warming will inevitably continue to increase.
This maintains the balance of gases in the atmosphere, by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and slowing the threat of global warming by producing much needed clean, fresh oxygen. In fact, if we continue to cut down the forests at the current rate, global warming will inevitably continue to increase.
Fighting diseases
The number of different medicines found in rainforests is phenomenal. Rainforests are really the pharmacy of the Earth, with many plants having components used as medicines to treat malaria, tuberculosis, dysentery, heart diseases and more.
The medicines that have been discovered and derived from rainforest plants are just a mere fraction of the total thought to be available, as only about one percent of such plants have been tested for medicinal properties. There is still a vast medical potential waiting to be discovered in the rainforests.
Cancer-fighting drugs have already been discovered in, among other places, the rainforests of Madagascar, although deforestation has shockingly wiped out the specific species of the plants. A complete cure for cancer, as well as cures for Aids and other major diseases, may be hidden in the rainforests. Hopefully, the curative plants will be found and their magnificent medicinal properties discovered before they become extinct.
The medicines that have been discovered and derived from rainforest plants are just a mere fraction of the total thought to be available, as only about one percent of such plants have been tested for medicinal properties. There is still a vast medical potential waiting to be discovered in the rainforests.
Cancer-fighting drugs have already been discovered in, among other places, the rainforests of Madagascar, although deforestation has shockingly wiped out the specific species of the plants. A complete cure for cancer, as well as cures for Aids and other major diseases, may be hidden in the rainforests. Hopefully, the curative plants will be found and their magnificent medicinal properties discovered before they become extinct.
Biodiversity
Although rainforests make up only about six percent of the Earth's surface, they account for at least 50 percent of all of the species of organisms on our planet, if not more. There are also hundreds of species yet to be discovered.
This biodiversity, or variety of life, is mostly based on the plant life found in rainforests.
Some trees in rainforests grow up to 70 metres tall, but generally average about 50 metres. The topmost branches of the trees form a canopy, which provides a rich habitat for innumerable species of insects, mammals, reptiles and birds.
Below this is the vegetation forming the understorey, and underneath that lies the forest floor, which provides different habitats that support other species of animals and plants.
With the canopy acting like a roof, the forest floor receives very little sunlight. The leaves that fall off the tree decompose on the forest floor, making them suitable for detrivores (rotting material feeders), including many species of fungi, to live on. Rainforests produce an incredible diversity of life, much of which is still unknown to science.
This biodiversity, or variety of life, is mostly based on the plant life found in rainforests.
Some trees in rainforests grow up to 70 metres tall, but generally average about 50 metres. The topmost branches of the trees form a canopy, which provides a rich habitat for innumerable species of insects, mammals, reptiles and birds.
Below this is the vegetation forming the understorey, and underneath that lies the forest floor, which provides different habitats that support other species of animals and plants.
With the canopy acting like a roof, the forest floor receives very little sunlight. The leaves that fall off the tree decompose on the forest floor, making them suitable for detrivores (rotting material feeders), including many species of fungi, to live on. Rainforests produce an incredible diversity of life, much of which is still unknown to science.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Introduction
The main importance of plants in our lives are that they take in Carbon Dioxide (Co2) that we breath out and in place they let out oxygen which we breath in. Without plants we would run out of oxygen and die very quickly. This applies not just to us humans but to all animals as well.They are also the source of food. Animals eat plants or other animals and we eat the plants or the animals that depends on other animals and/or plants.
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