Observe: Plant Photo Collage

Plants are used for many things in our world.  They are used to feed us and provide the nutrients we need.  They help to provide us with clean water.  They provide medicine for us.  Through the process of photosynthesis, they provide us with oxygen we breathe.  They remove carbon dioxide from the air.  For what else are plants used?

Foods

Everything we eat comes directly or indirectly from plants.  Plants have some nutrients that we cannot get from meat and other food products.





Water

Plants regulate the water cycle. They help distribute and purify the planet’s water. They also help move water from the soil to the atmosphere.





Medicine

One-quarter of all prescription drugs come directly from or are by-products of plants.  In addition, four out of five people around the world today rely on plants for primary health care.





Air

Plants provide us with oxygen—the most important part of the air we breathe.  They also store carbon, and they have helped keep much of the carbon dioxide produced from the burning of fossil fuels out of the atmosphere.





 Notebook: What do all of these pictures have in common?

  1. Open the Journal Entry page you saved to your Plant Notebook folder.  
  2. Using the above photo collage, and the link below write your responses to the questions under Entry 3. 
  3. Check your answers below and remember to date and save your journal entry to your Plant Notebook.

Activity Links:

 

Check Your Answers


3.
a. Three ways that we use plants:
  • For food.  Have you eaten any bread, fruit, or vegetables yet today?  Those all come from plants.
  • For medicine.  Many medicines around the world come directly from plants, or were inspired by plants.
  • For clothing.  Most of our clothing has at least some natural fibre in it.  Cotton is very common, and bamboo is starting to be more common.
  • You may have other answers like purifying our water, or making oxygen for us to breathe.

 Digging Deeper

Visit the Missouri Botanical Garden website to discover more about why plants are important to humans.