An Introduction to the Plants the Basis of the Food Pyramid Essay

Plants are the basis of the food pyramid for all living things, even other plants. They have always been very important to people, not only for food, but also for clothing,weapons, tools, dyes, medicines, shelter and a great many other purposes. Both humansand animals benefit from plants. We eat many different types of plants such as fruits andvegetables. We also use plants for our herbs. Plants are also used to manufacture manydifferent products such as shampoos, rubber, paper, and camera film. In some countries,fermented sugar cane is used instead of gasoline.Animals use plants in many differentways also. They eat many fruits and other plants. Many animals use plants for shelter. Plants also provide animals with protection from predators. The destruction of differentplants sometimes leads to animals becoming endangered or extinct.The basic structure of plants consists of roots, stem, leaves, flower andor fruit or seeds. A flower is the part ofthe plant that makes the seeds. The main parts of a flower are the carpels and stamens. These parts are often found in the center of the flower. There are egg cells in the carpeland pollen cells in the stamen. All flowers have four basic parts sepals, petals, carpels,and stamen. Different flowers have different numbers and shapes of these parts.Mostplants can be divided into one of two general categories herbaceous or woody plants. Herbaceous plants have soft stems, while woody plants are tree-like. Herbaceous plantsproduce completely new stems each year. The approaching cold weather causes the newstems to die back to the ground. Some herbaceous plants survive periods of cold byforming underground bulbs, or tubers used for food storage. Many herbaceous plantscomplete their life cycles within one growing season and the whole plant dies, even theroots. These annuals produce seeds that will form new plants the next year.Land plantsare divided into two groups based on whether they have vascular tissues or not. Allnonvascular plants are placed in one division. There are nine divisions of vascular...