The Plant Kingdom
The plant kingdom is one of the five kingdoms of the world. Animal, fungi, protists, monareans and, of course, plants! Almost every living thing depends on plants to survive. Plants (unlike animals) can make their own food through a process called photosynthesis, which involves chlorophyll. Chlorophyll makes the plants leaves green. The process of photosynthesis ends with the plant letting out oxygen, and as we know, we need oxygen to survive. Another way we depend on plants is on them for food. We eat plants very often, and the animals we eat most likely ate plants so that creature also depended on plants. That is what it's like with many other living creatures. Plants can live in water or on land, but plants have been on earth for millions of years; longer than animals (but not protists and monerans)! Plants are a very important kingdom.
2 main types of plants
When broken down into categories there are two main types of plants: vascular and non-vascular. Non-vascular plants are plants with no special tissues or vessels to carry water minerals ext. They absorb water through their bodies instead of their roots, such as moss. Vascular plants are plants that have special tissues called the xylem and phloem tissue. The xylem tissue moves water and minerals from the soil up through a vascular plant. Whereas the phloem tissue moves food from the leaves to other parts of the plant. Vascular plants have roots, leaves and reproduce by spores and/or seeds. Some examples of vascular plants are ferns and sunflowers. There are many plants but these are the first and most common group you can classify them into.
Aloe vera is a medicinal herb. It helps with cuts, scrapes and to heal dry or itchy skin. The main thing it helps is new mild burns because it is cool and very soothing.
To learn more about aloe vera go to: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/aloe-vera-herbal-remedies.htm? Calendula is a medicinal herb. It is a wound healer for cuts, scrapes, wounds, acne, eczema, other inflammatory skin complains, and many other things.
To find out more go to: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/calendula-herbal-remedies.htm Elderflower is a very useful herb. You can use different parts of the plant (bark, berries, flower and leaves) for different things. It can be used to help colds, coughs, a gargle for sore throats, to sooth dry skin, for arthritic conditions and it is a healing agent for chilblains and wounds.
To find out more go to: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-708-ELDERFLOWER.aspx?activeIngredientId=708&activeIngredientName=ELDERFLOWER |
Arnica is a herb that is used for reliving pain. Arnica is relatively hard to grow. The flower (and sometimes the stem) is used to make ointments, infusions, decoctions, oils and tinctures to heal different things. Arnica helps with bruises and joint pain.
To find out more go to: http://www.rexall.ca/articles/view/3721/Arnica Echinacea (also known as purple cone flower) is a very popular medicinal plant known to help with colds, flu and sore throats. This herb is mainly used with a decoction of the roots.
To find out more go to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/252684.php Yarrow is a medicinal herb. It can help with colds, flu, fever and some allergies. Yarrow can be made (using the herb) into a tea with other herbs and can be made into a tincture. This herb has been used by the Native Americans from as early as 1794.
To find out more go to: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/yarrow-herbal-remedies.htm |
Plants help us in many ways.
Here is a fascinating video on the plant kingdom!
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The photosynthesis song!
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