Fun Facts About Plants

Nature 4 Minutes

I found this article –Fun Facts About Plants—and I wanted to share it!

How versatile are plants!? You can eat them, use them in medicine, and they have this magical ability to transform any boring room into a vibrant living space. Not just that, but gardening has been proven to be good for your mental and physical health.

But there’s a whole wide world of plants thriving out there which we know hardly anything about. Just wait till you hear how many plants there are in the ocean.

Like the fact that there’s a plant in Australia called the ‘Suicide Plant’. Anyone who comes in contact with it acquires a certain side effect (which can last for several years) that makes them feel depressed and suicidal. No wonder they say “everything in Australia wants to kill you!”

The intention behind this article is to introduce you to the unexplored, absolutely stunning, almost unbelievable side of the plant kingdom. So, if you want to discover some more plant facts that’ll be perfect for any pub quiz, then keep on reading!

Get ready to learn all about plants!

1. And the award for the longest living organism on planet earth goes to…

A tree! Well, there are several trees in various parts of the world which are 3,000-4,000 years old. But then there’s a bristlecone pine tree located in California which is considered to be the world’s oldest growing tree. This fella is a whopping 5,000 years old! That’s older than the Ancient Egyptians who built the Pyramids.

2. Clonal trees can live for more than 80,000 years

While California’s bristlecone pine tree is an individual organism, there are colonies of trees which are estimated to be over 80,000 years old. One such colony of 50,000 aspen trees is located in the Fishlake National Park in Utah. It’s called Pando, which means ‘I spread’. And those trees really have spread over the years!

3. What about the world’s tallest tree?

Again, a Californian tree. A coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) called Hyperion is considered to be the tallest tree to exist. Its height is 380.1 feet. That’s as tall as a 35-story building! Another interesting fact associated with this 600-year-old tree is that its exact location is kept a secret to protect it from damage.

4. Let’s talk numbers of species

It’s estimated that there are over 400,000 species of plants on our planet. This number is not fixed though since new species are discovered every year. Also, it’s pretty unbelievable to know that 85% of all plant life is found in the oceans. On land, we have just about 15%.

5. So much biodiversity, yet we keep eating just 30 plants

Half of these 400,000 are edible for human consumption. However, we humans tend to eat just 200 plant species (30 plants in their different life forms), ignoring all the rest. Rice, maize, and wheat – these 3 plants alone contribute more than 60% of the calories and proteins we humans obtain from plants.

6. If not eating, are we at least using them as medicines?

It is estimated that more than 50,000 plant species have the potential for being medicinal in nature. But most of these concoctions are traditional medicines, primarily used by the Indian, Chinese, and African medicine systems.

Furthermore, only 1% of rainforest plants have been researched for their medicinal potential. So it’s safe to assume that there’s a whole universe of untapped resources, hidden in those majestic rainforests, just waiting to be discovered.

7. Lost in a jungle? Use plants to navigate

Plants can be used as compasses to navigate through all kinds of terrains. For example, the moss that grows on the tree trunks of northern temperate climates tends to spread more towards the northern side.

Another trick is to analyze the rings on a tree that has been cut down. If the tree is in the northern hemisphere, rings will be thicker on the southern side, and vice versa.

8. Herbs and spices are not the same

Let’s make use of this list of fun facts about plants to burst this bubble of a common misconception – “herbs and spices are the same things”. No, they’re not!

Herbs come from leaves of the plant, while spices primarily come from stems, roots, seeds, berries, or barks.

9. What’s the fastest growing plant?

Any guesses? It’s the bamboo! It’s the fastest-growing plant in the world, and it can grow up to 35 inches in a day! That’s almost 1.5 inches per hour. If we pay close attention, we can actually watch bamboo grow in front of our eyes.

10. Plant kingdom can be surprisingly confusing

Pumpkins and avocados are actually fruits while pineapples are berries. To make things more confusing, rhubarb is a vegetable and cucumber is a fruit too.

And everyone knows tomatoes are fruits right? There’s the famous quote of “knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad…”

11. Grass that’s tall enough to hide a herd of elephants

Found in Africa, elephant grass can grow to up to 15 feet in height. That’s tall enough for native African elephants to hide behind it. However, they also love gorging on this grass, hence the name.

12. And who’s the king of flowers?

That thought to be the Indonesian flower, rafflesia arnoldii. These flowers are considered to be the largest in the world. They can easily be 3.3 feet in diameter.

Another flower called Titan arum, also known as the ‘corpse flower’, can reach up to 15 feet in height. When they bloom they produce a strong smell similar to that of rotting meat. Thus, the name – corpse flower. Lovely.

13. Tell us something about tulips!

There are quite a few plant facts associated with tulip flowers. But our favorite is this one. During the 1600s, these gorgeous flowers used to be more expensive than gold. The craze for tulips was so high in those times that it led to the Dutch economy’s crash. They even have a name for it – tulipomania.

14. Speaking of weird, what about carnivorous plants?

There are about 600 species of plants which are considered to be carnivorous. They eat insects and small animals too. Even figs are carnivorous in nature. When they are pollinated by fig wasps, they trap the poor wasps and eat them. In the Philippines, there’s a carnivorous plant species capable of digesting a full-grown rat, alive!

15. Plants can even recognize their siblings!

Yes, they can! And they even give their siblings preferential treatment by competing less against them for valuable resources such as space for growth.

Source: Fun Facts About

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Published by pat frederick

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190 thoughts on “Fun Facts About Plants”

  1. “Jesus Decimates Enrollment At Galilee’s School For The Blind”
    CHRISTIAN LIVING · Feb 21, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “CAPERNAUM — Town officials are concerned after receiving multiple complaints from faculty at Galilee’s School for the Blind this week after Jesus of Nazareth apparently went on a healing spree and decimated the school’s enrollment.

    “We were set to have an all-time high in our number of students enrolled,” said Rabbi Ananias Ben Josef, administrator of the school. “Come to find out, this carpenter — from that Nazareth ghetto of all places — strolled through Capernaum and started healing blind people left and right! We’ve got less than half of our original enrollment now! How am I supposed to pay overhead costs when I have hardly any students?”

    Witnesses throughout the town said Jesus arrived with his group of disciples late in the morning at the beginning of the week and quickly drew a large crowd. “He walked in, started mingling with some of the regular people who hang out in the market, and not long after that, we all started hearing somebody start shouting, ‘I can see! I can see!'” said one man who was present in the marketplace when the healings began. “Others started bringing more sick and blind people, and things just snowballed from there.”

    The school was reportedly looking into taking legal action against Jesus for causing financial harm to the institution, but there is no law against healing blind people unless it takes place on the Sabbath.

    At publishing time, Jesus and His disciples had reportedly moved on to another town, with rumored plans in place to set people free from problems even more serious than blindness.”

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I got snagged, too, for quite awhile…..

    “NESARA/QFS: A Long Running Internet Scam — Detailing the background, history, and current frauds being ran by internet influencers using “NESARA Law” and “Quantum Financial System” disinformation”

    Jordan Sather
    25 min ago

    EXCERPT: “The NESARA grift is a long running scam within new age/truther/conspiracy circles dating back a few decades, with a new advent of a “Quantum Financial System” lumped into the mix since approx. 2017/2018.

    I myself got duped by this internet theory circa 2012 when I first started my awakening journey. I was young, naive, and jumping on all kinds of conspiracy clickbait bandwagons that I was coming across at the time. Nevertheless, after a year or two of “it’s coming tonight!”, “it’s coming tomorrow!”, “it’ll be here next week!”, I began to question the legitimacy of this theory and dug a little deeper, finding it to be a boiling pot of disinformation.

    When the social media age came around, especially over the last few years with conspiracy theories and truth seeking becoming so popular, it’s been fascinating to me to watch these clickbait scams still promoted around by irresponsible, if not downright fraudulent, influencers who are clearly looking for fame and money.

    This article will dive into the history of the NESARA/QFS scam, the alleged theory promoted by the hucksters, and examine possible motivations for why it’s still around after all these years.

    Given how many people gullibly fall for this, some even defaulting on their homes because they a believe a magical “NESARA Act” will get implemented and a “QFS” switched on which they believe would essentially give them free money so they stop paying their bills, it’s important to debunk this viral theory. It’s doing quite the psychological damage in the minds of the naïve who buy into it.

    Origination of “NESARA” – Harvey Francis Barnard…”

    https://jordansather.substack.com/p/nesaraqfs-a-long-running-internet

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I HIGHLY recommend reading this entire article:

      “Protect With The Truth

      It’s a common theme for these clickbait bandits to not only promote NESARA/QFS disinformation, but also disinfo regarding supposed “Med Beds”, military operations, claims of having insider sources connected to Trump and the military, claims of Deep Staters being secretly arrested and tried at GITMO, talk of clones and body doubles standing in for politicians, and a whole lot more baseless, fact-less statements.

      What’s their true agenda? Difficult to find out, but whatever the case they are incredibly irresponsible with their online behavior and harming many thousands, if not millions of people with their lies and misinformation.

      It is incredibly important to combat this twisting of reality, even though many will attack with sayings like “you’re just jealous!”, “you’re being go negative”, “you must be a Deep State plant!”. I’ve heard it all before. The denialism and cognitive dissonance that people will get when their false idols and false belief systems are exposing is mind boggling.

      Many do not realize the damage that this sort of clickbait and disinformation does to individuals and the movement of truth in general. We must combat lies with truth, ask the hard questions, and police ourselves and our own movement by having the courage to speak out against the frauds perpetuating nonsense.

      Do no harm, but take no shit.”

      Liked by 1 person

      2. Plus, they are all new and I’ve not met either the 1 full-time woman or the p/t cop who comes from Norfolk. When I moved here, we had the Chief of Police and 2 officers and I had met all of them. Not the case any more.

        Liked by 1 person

      1. They are the ones who have the Harley – don’t know which model but it’s one of the big ones. I’m betting if they ever gave me the chance, we could have a good time together. …sigh…big plans when I moved here but….oh, well.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Liked by 1 person

  7. Well, I’m waiting for a call from the VA nurse or PA who is now handling my case. I asked them to be sure whoever it is allots at least 15-20 minutes to listen so I can explain the whole complicated mess. I got my letter to schedule my 2-year exam, which is useless since all of the test results would be horrendous. If I can just convince them to take care of my sinuses locally….that would solve 90% of my problems.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Like

  11. Like

  13. taking the steps to remove gardner

    Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has begun the rare process of moving to force Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner out of office. He explains the standard of proof his office will have to meet, and insists this effort is not political in nature. pic.twitter.com/DEHBg2jU68

    — Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) February 23, 2023

    Breaking details here…

    Bailey’s call for her removal comes as pressure mounts against Gardner’s office after a 17-year-old volleyball player was critically injured in a crash caused by a suspect who was supposed to be on house arrest. Many local leaders have called the case emblematic of the dysfunction in Gardner’s office.

    Janae Edmondson and her family were walking back to their hotel in downtown St. Louis on Saturday when police said 21-year-old Daniel Riley sped down St. Charles Street, failed to brake, hit several cars and pinned Edmondson. She lost both of her legs in the crash.

    The I-Team reported Monday that Riley had violated his GPS monitoring conditions at least 90 times since he was first charged with armed criminal action and robbery in September 2020.

    Gardner has taken a defensive stance this week as she came under increasing fire amid accusations that failures in her office kept Riley out on bond, in a Wednesday statement accusing a judge of denying her office’s requests to keep the crash suspect behind bars.

    That directly opposes a statement from a spokesperson for the 22nd Judicial Circuit that said St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Office did not file motions to revoke Riley’s bond during the two years leading up to Saturday’s crash despite the dozens of violations of his bond.

    https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/missouri-attorney-general-threatens-immediate-removal-of-kim-gardner/

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Issue: February 23, 2023
    “UN says that censoring “disinformation” and “hate speech” will protect “free speech” — Calls for online regulation.”
    By Didi Rankovic
    Posted 2:55 pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “The UN is openly embracing the agenda of mobilizing to fight against perceived online hate speech and disinformation. The latest was to organize an event called, Internet for Trust. The unelected and well-funded organization whose purpose primarily is to facilitate conflict resolution in the real world and provide peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance in war-torn areas, is now increasingly following in the footsteps of other unelected, though less formal elite groups, like the WEF.

    Now, we have announcements from one of its agencies, UNESCO – that is supposed to promote world peace and security through international education, arts and sciences cooperation, and protection of world heritage in forms of monuments, etc. – crafting its very own “guidelines” to regulate “hate speech” and “misinformation.”

    According to an announcement, UNESCO has found a way to explain how (but not when or why) it started to believe it should have this power to regulate online communications by citing its mandate to promote free circulation of ideas through words and images.
    (Video)
    “The internet and social media offer many advantages in the world today. But as we know and we have just heard, individuals are increasingly using it for disinformation. And the reality is they also propagate hate speech.

    UNESCO’s global mandate includes the promotion of the free circulation of ideas through words and images. UNESCO has therefore decided to develop, through multistakeholder consultations, principles for regulation of digital platforms guidelines whose aim is to support the development and implementation of regulation procedures to guarantee freedom of expression and access to information while managing illegal contents and any contents that can be so harmful to democracy and respect for human rights.

    And instead of doing just that – the agency stopping the free circulation of often arbitrarily selected (and sometimes contrary to national law) “unwanted” information, and regulating that, is apparently the way to go.” The Regulation of Digital Platforms guidelines, which UNESCO is developing does pay what looks like unavoidable lip service to freedom of expression and access to information – but the main goal i to “manage” what the UN has deems “illegal contents and any contents that can be so harmful to democracy and respect for human rights.”

    That’s a handily broad definition to cover a lot of things – whether truly harmful or not – and the whole idea is sure to make quite a few free speech proponents unhappy. But those behind it are positively giddy to be work on guidelines to “support the development and implementation of regulation procedures” aimed at “guaranteeing” access to information, and freedom of expression, but primarily, really, to “manage” whatever is label as illegal any content that somebody decides could harm democracy and human rights.

    In announcing the Internet for Trust conference, UNESCO mentioned looking for ways to combat hate speech, misogyny, doxxing and conspiracy theories, and even, with a straight face, suppression of free speech.

    UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said that regulation was necessary online:

    “The blurring of boundaries between true and false, the highly-organized denial of scientific facts, the amplification of disinformation and conspiracies – these did not originate on social networks,” the UNESCO head said. “But, in the absence of regulation, they flourish there much better than the truth.

    “Only by taking the full measure of this technological revolution can we ensure it does not sacrifice human rights, freedom of expression and democracy. For information to remain a common good, we must reflect and act now, together,” she said.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. NF: Typical Nazi move!!!

    Issue: February 23, 2023
    “Ukraine calls on countries to ban sales of new video game Atomic Heart — Says it has ties to a Russian energy firm.”
    By Christina Maas
    Posted 12:26 pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said that it will send a letter to gaming platforms Valve, Sony, and Microsoft to ban the sale of the new game Atomic Heart in Ukraine.

    The recently released game by Mundfish studio is allegedly sponsored by Russian publisher Gaijin and Anatoliy Paliy, the top manager of Russian energy company Gazprom, according to Ukrainian blogger OLDboi.

    The game is set in the Soviet era, where there is a robot uprising. A KGB officer rises to the occasion to save the country. Digital Transformation Deputy Minister Oleksandr Borniakov encouraged other countries to ban the game.

    “We also call for limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential collection of user data and the possibility of transferring it to third parties in Russia, as well as the potential use of money raised from game purchases to wage war against Ukraine,” he said. Borniakov also noted that the developers have not publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

    Liked by 1 person

            1. he is the (gag, choke, cough, puke) leader of ukraine. he IS NOT the leader of the world. whatever he has on the united states must be revealed before this piss ant forces us into ww3

              Liked by 1 person

  16. Issue: February 23, 2023
    “Canadian premiers tell PM Justin Trudeau they won’t be sharing citizens’ medical data with federal government — Pushback against data grab plans.”
    By Ken Macon
    Posted 11:40 am

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “All 12 premiers in Canada have signed a joint letter saying that their territories and provinces will not be sharing healthcare data with the federal government. The federal government made sharing the data a requirement for its increased healthcare funding to provinces.

    “In a joint letter to the Prime Minister, signed by all premiers, we pledged the following,” the letter states. “While enhanced broader data sharing will now be explored and undertaken, to reflect capacities and needs in each of our jurisdictions, individual personal health information cannot and will not be exchanged.”

    We obtained a copy of the letter for you here. ***https://docs.reclaimthenet.org/new-brunswick-letter-rtn.pdf***

    Earlier this month, the federal government fulfilled provinces’ requests for more healthcare funding. However, it said a condition for that funding would be sharing of healthcare data. The requests came following a decrease in funding from 35% to 22% in recent years. However, under the constitution, 100% of healthcare costs fall under provincial governments.

    There were concerns that the federal government would require the creation of a national healthcare digital ID system. Before the federal government announced the increased funding, Saskatchewan and Alberta’s premiers Scott Moe and Danielle Smith had announced that they would not participate in a federal national ID scheme. Now it seems all premiers are opposed to the idea, putting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to form a digital ID in partnership with the World Economic Forum at risk.”

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Wouldn’t you know??!!?? I sit waiting by the phone for 2+ hours and the minute I go to take a piss, they call – rings twice and quits. No direct line, just the normal line where you sit and wait for 15-30 minutes!!!! Grrrrrrr…….

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Ya’ know…something just hit me….WTH is my Mom doing discussing my health situation with HER cousin whom I met for the first and only time at her 90th BD party? I mean, really!!!! SMDH – I mean, not that it’s a really big deal – I really don’t GAS but still…..it would be nice to be asked for permission first. Yeah, yeah, I know – this is my Mom we’re talking about!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. OK, I called Linda….as I expected, she does NOT understand the VA system nor can she understand that your VA health coverage varies according to WHEN you served. All she is familiar with, and then even on a very minor basis, is more current vets – their health coverage is totally different than mine.

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  21. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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