Interesting facts about plants

Interesting Plant Facts

  • An average size tree can provide enough wood to make 170,100 pencils!
  • The first type of aspirin, painkiller and fever reducer came from the tree bark of a willow tree!
  • 85% of plant life is found in the ocean!
  • Bananas contain a natural chemical which can make people feel happy!
  • Brazil is named after a tree!
  • The Amazon rainforest produces half the world’s oxygen supply!
  • Cricket bats are made of a tree called Willow and baseball bats are made out of the wood of Hickory tree!
  • Dendrochronology is the science of calculating a tree’s age by its rings!
  • Caffeine serves the function of a pesticide in a coffee plant! 
  • Apple is 25% air, that is why it floats on water!
  • Peaches, Pears, apricots, quinces, strawberries, and apples are members of the rose family!
  • Apple, potatoes and onions have the same taste, to test this eat them with your nose closed!
  • The tears during cutting an onion are caused by sulfuric acid present in them!
  • The tallest tree ever was an Australian eucalyptus – In 1872 it was measured at 435 feet tall!
  • The first potatoes were cultivated in Peru about 7,000 years ago!

  • The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours!
  • Strawberry is the only fruit that bears its seeds on the outside. The average strawberry has 200 seeds!
  • Leaving the skin on potatoes while cooking is healthier as all the vitamins are in the skin!
  • Around 2000 different types of plants are used by humans to make food!
  • Small pockets of air inside cranberries cause them to bounce and float in water!
  • Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant in the world; it can grow 35 inches in a single day!
  • A sunflower looks like one large flower, but each head is composed of hundreds of tiny flowers called florets, which ripen to become the seeds!
  • Cabbage has 91% water content!
  • Banana is an Arabic word for fingers!
  • The California redwood (coast redwood and giant sequoia) are the tallest and largest living organism in the world!

  • Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is one of the oldest living tree species, it dates back to about 250 million years ago!
  • The word pineapple comes from European explorers who thought the fruit combined the look of a pinecone with flesh like that of an apple!
  • The Elephant grass found in Africa is named so as it is 4.5 meters high and even elephants can hide in it!
  • Eating lots of onions will make you sleepy, as it acts as a sedative!
  • A cucumber is a fruit and not a vegetable since it has seeds in the centre!
  • A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas known as fingers!
  • Vanilla flavouring comes from the pod of an orchid, Vanilla planifolia!
  • The first certified botanical garden was founded by Pople Nicholas III in the Vatican City in 1278 AD!
  • There are over 300,000 identified plant species and the list is growing all the time!
  • Oak trees are struck by lightning more than any other tree!
  • Carrots were originally purple in colour!
  • During the 1600s, tulips were so valuable in Holland that their bulbs were worth more than gold. The craze was called tulip mania and caused the crash of the Dutch economy!
  • The baobab tree found in Africa can store 1,000 to 120,000 litres of water in its swollen trunk!
  • Oak trees don’t produce acorns until they are 50 years old!
  • Caffeine serves the function of a pesticide in a coffee plant!
  • At over 2000 kilometres long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth!
  • The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum!

20 Fun Facts About Plants

  1. The very expensive spice, saffron, comes from a type of crocus flower.
  2. The juice from bluebell flowers was used historically to make glue.
  3. Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
  4. In the 1600s, tulip bulbs in Holland were worth more than gold, which in turn led to a crash of the Dutch economy.
  5. 84% of an apple is water, 96% for a cucumber. An earthworm is 80% water.
  6. The word "fruit" is a botanical term, while "vegetable" is a culinary term.
  7. A notch in a tree will stay the same distance from the ground as the tree grows.
  8. Peanuts are NOT nuts but are related to beans and lentils.
  9. Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant in the world; it can grow 35 inches in a single day.
  10. Vanilla flavoring comes from the pod of an orchid, Vanilla planifolia. Though the pods are called vanilla beans, they're more closely related to corn than green beans.
  11. Small pockets of air inside cranberries cause them to bounce and float in water.
  12. The first potatoes were cultivated in Peru about 7,000 years ago.
  13. The average strawberry has 200 seeds. It's the only fruit that bears its seeds on the outside.
  14. The tears during cutting an onion are caused by sulphuric acid present in them.
  15. A sunflower looks like one large flower, but each head is composed of hundreds of tiny flowers called florets, which ripen to become the seeds.
  16. Oak trees are struck by lightning more than any other tree.
  17. The smell of freshly-cut grass is actually a plant distress call.
  18. There are over 200,000 identified plant species and the list is growing all the time.
  19. 90 percent of the foods humans eat come from just 30 plants.
  20. An average size tree can provide enough wood to make 170,100 pencils.

Plant Facts

  • Tree resin which has been fossilized is known as amber, it sometimes contains plant material or small animals that were trapped inside. More tree facts for kids.
  • Some plants are carnivores, gaining nutrients by eating various small insects and spiders. A well known example of a carnivorous plant is the Venus Flytrap.
  • Bamboo can be a fast growing plant, some types can grow almost a metre (3.28 feet) in just one day!
  • While using energy from sunlight, plants turn carbon dioxide into food in a process called photosynthesis.
  • Around 2000 different types of plants are used by humans to make food.
  • Onions might taste good but they can be painful to chop. A gas is released when you cut onions that irritates you eyes, the tears you produce while this happens are your body’s way of washing it from your eyes.
  • In the agricultural industry, to ensure crops of food grow well water is often added to soil in the form of irrigation.
  • Plant matter found at the bottom of areas with water such as swamps can eventually turn into coal due to a process called metamorphosis (changing form).
  • There are over 200,000 identified plant species and the list is growing all the time.
  • Poison ivy produces a skin irritant called urushiol. Touching poison ivy will cause an allergic reaction, usually in the form of an itchy rash on the skin.
  • Fertilizers are chemicals added to plants to help them grow. Important elements in fertilizers include nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Manure (animal waste) is also used as a fertilizer.

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