Lesson 6 - Plants and their Uses

In the previous lessons, we learned a little about plants and their life cycle. In this lesson, we will look into different kinds of plants.

Plants are of many kinds, and are named after how they look. Based on their size, plants are divided into three big groups.

Herbs are the smallest, and they usually grow up until our knees. For example, if you had grown the plants from mustard / coriander, you would have noticed that they don't grow more than a hand's size. There are good examples of herbs. Shrubs grow slightly taller than herbs, and can grow as high as a fully grown human. Many of the flower giving plants are shrubs. For example, the rose plant in your garden is a shrub. So is a hibiscus.

Large plants are called trees. Trees can be as small as 10 feet or as tall as 300 feet (that is 50 times as tall as a normal human). The tallest trees in the world are found in California, USA. They are called the Red Wood trees. These trees have been known to grow normally to 200 feet.

Apart from their size, plants are also divided on how their roots, leaves and seeds look like. For example, grasses have different leaves than does roses. Grasses also grow to varying heights - from the grass used in the lawn to bamboos that can reach as high as 20 - 30 feet tall. Actually, trees like coconut and palm are more similar to grass than they are to other trees.

Activity: Note how different a grass is from the rose plant in your garden. Apart from the size, note how different the leaves look. See how different the roots of grass are from the rose's roots.

Uses of Plants:
Plants are important for our well being and they give us clean air. Besides, plants also give us many important things we need for our everyday lives. For example, I have listed 10 things that come from plants.

1. Wood for furniture / building homes.
2. Paper is an important product that is made out of wood from plants.
3. Cotton, which is important for making dresses.
4. Fruits are a major source of food for many people around the world.
5. Rubber is extracted from a tree.
6. Synthetic fibres are made from wood.
7. Cereals and Pulses (Food for humans) are plant products
8. Seeds / leaves and other food for animals are provided by plants.
9. Plants give us spices for our food
10. Last but not least, they also provide home for many animals all over earth.

Now that we have learned the importance of plants, we will next learn something about animals.