We speak of living beings that have existed for more than 500 million years, on which we depend to live, to breathe and even to make our lives happier. But in reality they constitute a kingdom very little studied and full of curiosities.
- Fruit is a botanical term and & quot; vegetable & quot; It is a culinary term, so certain types of vegetation, such as cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines could be called fruits and vegetables.
- An herb is the one that is used specifically from the leaf of a plant, however a spice can come from the seed, berry, stem, bark, root or bulb of a plant.
- The plants are able to recognize their congeners (of the same species) and give them preferential treatment (altruism): when they are among their "brothers" they are less competitive with resources such as the space for the root, which when they are surrounded by strange plants.
- One third of the life of the plants on the island of Socotra, near Yemen, can not be found anywhere else on Earth. That is why it has come to be described as "the place that has the strangest aspect of the Earth. & Quot;
- The scientists were able to revive a plant thanks to the fossilized fruit found in the stomach of an Arctic ground squirrel that was trapped in the ice some 32,000 years ago.
- There is a garden in England dedicated exclusively to plants that kill. Its creator, the Duchess of Northumberland believes that "most people would want to know how it is capable of killing a plant, how long it would take it to die if it is consumed and how horrible and painful this kind of death can be." ;
- Caffeine was developed in Nature as a natural insecticide because it is capable of paralyzing and killing insects that try to feed on plants that contain this chemical.
- Marijuana and hops are from the same family of plants: the Cannabaceae. And there is a group of nuns living in the United States who not only grow "maría", but make ointments, medicines and defend their consumption by smoking it.
- Cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, Chinese cabbage and kale are basically the same plant species, but they have been so selectively grown that they no longer resemble each other.
- Native Americans planted corn, beans and squash together because the corn provides a shaded structure, the beans nitrogen the soil and the squash spreads avoiding the weeds. This is called "associated crops".
- The smell of freshly cut grass is actually a distress call that the plants emit. The idea is that the chemical compound whose smell is so pleasant, "call" neighboring predators to come to defend it from whoever is attacking it.
- It is the same thing that happens when some plants are being devoured by the caterpillars; his method of defense is to send certain chemical signals that are captured by the wasps that come to his aid and attack the caterpillars.
- In Japan there is a flower that they call "of the skeleton" (Grayi Diphylleia) that has an incredible peculiarity: if their petals get wet they progressively lose the white pigment and become transparent. When drying they recover their original color.
- Mustard seeds and wasabi root are not spicy by themselves, but it is necessary to "split" them; inside there are two separate harmless components, but when they bind they produce allyl isothiocyanate, which is ultimately responsible for the spicy taste.
- The whole dandelion plant is edible. Its leaves are tasty and contain large amounts of vitamin K, its flowers can be used to make wine and its root is used to produce soft drinks.
- The volume of an average tree is composed almost entirely of dead cells. The only living parts are the leaves, the tips of the roots and the phloem, which is a thin layer under the bark that delivers food and water to the leaves.
- The heaviest tree in the world is also the heaviest organism, since it is actually a forest that is found in Utah and is composed of a single tree (and its clones), called "Trembling Poplar." Its weight exceeds 6600 tons and is about 80,000 years old.
- The oldest and highest individual tree in the world are very well kept secrets. Only a handful of scientists know the exact location of them. Methuselah (oldest) is somewhere in the Inyo National Forest of California and is over 4,800 years old. Hyperion is a redwood 1155 m high and is in the Redwood National Park in California
- The plant that is considered the most poisonous in the world is the oleander (Nerium oleander) and its toxicity is so great that there have been cases of people intoxicated by consuming the honey produced with its nectar. The most dangerous toxin that it possesses is the oleandrina that attacks the heart, but it is not the only one.
- Plants "feel" though differently from other living beings. They love certain types of music, they communicate with each other through chemical signals, they watch over the survival of their species and according to several scientific studies there are species that are capable of "committing suicide" if the conditions are adverse.
