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This picture shows the leaves on a tree. The leaves have turned colors because it was autumn when the picture was taken. Click on image for full size (55K jpeg) Image courtesy of Corel Photography

Plants are very important because they make their own food during "photosynthesis". Photosynthesis makes food for the plant and it also makes the oxygen we (and all animals!) need to breathe.

Humans can't live in a world without plants, so it is very important to protect them!

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, But Gasoline Might

Podcast: Gasoline Plant

This picture shows the leaves on a tree. The leaves have turned colors because it was autumn when the picture was taken. Click on image for full size (55K jpeg) Image courtesy of Corel Photography

In the process known as "photosynthesis", plants use the energy of the Sun to convert water and carbon dioxide into food (sugars) and oxygen. Photosynthesis by plants provides almost all the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Because plants can make their own food, they are the first step to many food chains in the world.

The first plants lived on land about 450 million years ago. Since then, plants have taken on many forms and are found in most places on Earth. Plants can live in dry places or wet places, low places or high places, hot places or cold places. Humans can't live in a world without plants, so it is very important to protect places that have plants!

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, But Gasoline Might

Podcast: Gasoline Plant

Autumn Foliage Click on image for full size (55K jpeg) Image courtesy of Corel Photography

In the process known as "photosynthesis", plants use the energy of the Sun to convert water and carbon dioxide into simple carbohydrates (sugars) and oxygen. This single chemical reaction is the source of virtually all the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Also, plants are at the beginning of an energy chain which provides nearly all of the food energy required by living things. Several species of protists and bacteria are also capable of performing photosynthesis, but plants are responsible for the vast majority of it.

The ancestors of modern plants evolved in the seas nearly 700 million years ago. These primitive plants did not have many the structures we tend to associate with plants in general, such as roots, stems, and leaves. The evolution of these structures only occurred after plants appeared on land some 265 million years later. Many scientists believe that the evolution of these specialized structures and the wide variety of forms they can assume largely accounts for the success and diversity of land plants we see now.

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, But Gasoline Might

Podcast: Gasoline Plant