Plants & Trees Facts for Kids
Fascinating facts about the plant world
Bread wheat has 42 chromosomes — six sets of seven — which is more than the 46 chromosomes found in human cells.
The Rafflesia flower bud takes about nine months to develop underground before it bursts open to reveal a flower up to 1 metre across.
The mandrake plant's root was used as an anaesthetic in ancient surgery; it contains powerful alkaloids that can cause unconsciousness — and in large doses, death.
Kudzu, an invasive vine introduced to the US from Asia, can grow up to 30 cm (1 foot) per day and has smothered millions of acres of native American plants and trees.
Despite looking like trees, banana plants are technically giant herbs — they have no woody stem, and the 'trunk' is actually a tightly packed bundle of leaf stalks.
The first land plants are thought to have been able to survive out of water only with the help of fungal partners that helped them absorb nutrients from bare rock and soil.
Sphagnum moss can absorb up to 20 times its own dry weight in water and was used as wound dressings in both World Wars because it is also mildly antiseptic.
Tamarind pods, which grow on trees across tropical Africa and Asia, contain a sticky sweet-and-sour pulp that is used in cooking, drinks, and candies around the world.
Black pepper berries from the Piper nigrum vine were once so valuable in Europe that they were used as currency and could be exchanged for gold.
The durian fruit of Southeast Asia is notorious for its powerful smell — so strong that it is banned from many hotels, planes, and public transport systems.