Like animals, plants are living things, or organisms. These three features distinguish plants from animals:
plants have chlorophyll, a green pigment necessary for photosynthesistheir cell walls are made sturdy by a material called cellulosethey are fixed in one place (they don’t move)
Plants are broadly divided into two groups: flower- and fruit-producing plants and those that do not produce flowers or fruits. Flowering and fruit plants include all garden flowers, agricultural crops, grasses, shrubs and most leaf trees. Non-flowering plants include pines, ferns, mosses and conifers (evergreen trees or shrubs that produce cones).
Carnivorous Plants
Some plants live in soil that doesn’t provide adequate nutrients, so they eat insects for nourishment. Insect-eating plants include pitcher plants and sundews. Pitcher plants have trumpet-shaped leaves that contain a liquid. When the insect enters the leaf, tiny, stiff hairs prevent it from escaping. Juices secreted in the leaves help the plant to digest the insects. Sundew plants have sticky hairs on their leaves that trap insects. The digestive juices in the leaves help the plant “swallow” its victim. Venus’s-flytrap has bristled leaves shaped like bear traps. When an insect touches the bristles, the “trap” slams shut, trapping the insect.
Plant Hall of Fame
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