TOP 8 FACT ABOUT PLANTS AND LEAVES

1. WHY ARE LEAVES GREEN?

The green color in leaves and blades of grass comes from a pigment called chlorophyll, which absorbs sunlight during photosynthesis, one of Earth's most important natural processes.  During photosynthesis, plants and trees use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide in the air and water into energy-rich sugars for food. That’s why leaves are at their most lush and greenest during the summer months when the longer sunlight hours kick photosynthesis into overdrive. One bonus product of the process is oxygen, which is essential for life. In other words, most life on Earth is solar-powered.

WAIT, most life is solar-powered?

But, not all of it? Nope. In the late 1970S, Scientists studying the seafloor discovered geysers belching a boiling mineral-rich stew into the crushing depths of the ocean. These ‘’ hydrothermal vents’’ didn’t just look like they were from outer space- they were actually teeming with alien life.  Here, in the constant darkness, bacteria convert chemicals into sugars in a process called chemosynthesis.  Shrimp, crabs, and eyeless tube worms survive by feeding on these bacteria, creating a food chain completely independent of the sun. Astrobiologists- Scientists who study the possibility of life on other planets- examine the vents for examples of life that might exist on planets far from the sun. In fact, they wonder if life on Earth began near these geysers rather than on the surface.

2. WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOR IN THE FALL?

As the days grow shorter later in the year and temperatures begin to plummet. Photosynthesis slows down and produces less food.  Chlorophyll in the leaves fades, allowing the foliage to explode in hues ranging from red to yellow.

3. WHY DO FLOWERS SMELL NICE?

You’re not the only creature that likes to stop and smell the roses. Flowers create a fragrance to attract pollinators: hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other winged insects. The pollinators transfer pollen between flowers to create seeds. The sweet smell also warns other animals to search elsewhere for a snack. (Flowers are often toxic.)

4. WHY DO SOME PLANTS EAT MEAT?

         All plants soak up energy from the sun and slurp nutrients from the dirt. But hundreds of species have developed an ability to add to their diets in sorrier soil, such as acidic swamps and rocky outcrops. They’re called carnivorous plants after their favorite food – fresh meat – which gives them the nutritional boost they need to grow leaves that capture energy from the Sun. But humans have nothing to fear from this meat-eating plants. They’re deadly only to morsel–sized animals, such as flies, mosquitoes, mice, lizards, frogs, and the occasional unlucky bird.

5. HOW DO PLANTS EAT MEAT?

Evolution has armed carnivorous plants with a wild and wide variety of traps for capturing.

Killing and devouring dinner. Consider the pitcher plants, whose leaves are disguised as cups of sweet nectar, Bugs that belly up to the pitcher for a drink tumble inside, where they’re trapped by tiny hairs and digested into goo by special enzymes.  Some plants have sticky tentacles that work like flypaper to snare insects. The most famous of the carnivorous plants, the Venus flytrap has leaves lined with interlocking hairs that snap shut when disturbed by insects. At that point, a trapping plant becomes a sort of short-term stomach where the bug is boiled down into nutrients. The leaf hairs are so sensitive that they can distinguish between a bug (which springs the traps) and a raindrop (which does not). So the next time your parents tell you to eat your vegetable, look at the bright side – at least your vegetables, look at the bright side- at least your vegetables aren’t eating you!

6. WHY DO TUMBLEWEEDS TUMBLE?

To set the mood for shootouts at high noon in old cowboy movies, of course. Actually, tumbleweeds tumble to create future generations of tumbling tumbleweeds. The part of the tumbleweed you see blowing end over end in the breeze is actually the aboveground portion of many species of desert plants. When the plant matures and dies, it breaks free from its roots in the ground and tumbles in the breeze, spreading new seeds along the way. When the seeds find suitable soil, they take root and sprout a new tumbleweed.

7. WHY DO CACTI HAVE SPINES INSTEAD OF LEAVES?

               These pricky plants have evolved to thrive in sunny deserts and sandy soils that would kill your average potted geranium in less than a day. You might think cacti have spines instead of leaves to jab hungry desert animals looking for a cactus snack, but that’s only half the story. The spines keep the plant from losing water to the air. They also trap moisture from the morning mist and evening fog. The moisture condenses on the spines (like water drops on a cold soda can), then drops to the ground, where the roots soak it up. In other words, a cactus’s spines create the plant’s personal rain shower.

8. WHY IS THE TREE THE COLOR OF A RAINBOW?

       Bits of the bark of the Eucalyptus deglupta, aka the rainbow eucalyptus, fall off at different times of the year to reveal the fresh green bark inside. As it ages, the bark then turns a rainbow of colors- blue, red, purple, and orange. You can see this amazing eucalyptus tree on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.