If you look all around you, you will probably see many types of plants.  They are in your house, your yard, your friends yards, in the woods, and just about everywhere you look.  I guess you could say that plants are very important to our earth.

They grow in almost every part of the world.  Without plants there could be no life on earth.  The oxygen in the air is produced by plants and the food we eat comes from animals that eat plants.

Plants are probably just as important as our food.  You see we eat seeds of plants, flowers of plants,  roots of plants, stems of plants and the fruit that they produce.

Seeds: corn, rice, wheat

Roots: carrots,

Stems: asparagus, celery

Leaves: lettuce, cabbage

Flowers: broccoli, cauliflower

Fruits: apples, bananas, oranges

Plants supply us with clothing, and shelter, too.  Many medicines come from plants.  (Especially rain forest plants.)  Penicillin that you take when you have an infection, comes from tiny plants call fungi.

Trees give us lumber, and paper. 

Plants are also an important source of fuel.  People all over the world use wood to heat their homes or cook their food.  Three sources of fuel are: coal, oil, and natural gas.  These all come from plants that lived long ago.

Plants also provide us with beauty.  Don't you just love it in the springtime when all the wonderful colors start to show?  Or perhaps a houseplant gives your living room a sense of warmth and wholeness.

Well, welcome to the wonderful and extraordinary world of plants.