Plants & Trees Facts for Kids
Fascinating facts about the plant world
Ivy growing on the walls of buildings can actually insulate them, keeping them warmer in winter and cooler in summer, while also helping to absorb air pollution.
The arabica coffee plant originated in the highland forests of Ethiopia, where local people discovered the energising effects of its berries thousands of years ago.
Some pitcher plants host a community of tiny specialised animals — including mosquito larvae, spiders, and mites — that live inside the pitcher without being digested.
Scientists discovered that tree stumps that should have long since died are sometimes kept alive for decades by neighbouring trees passing sugars through shared root connections.
The original recipe for cola drinks was flavoured with extract from the kola nut, a seed from an African tree that naturally contains caffeine.
The Venus flytrap grows naturally only in a small area of North and South Carolina in the USA, in a 100-mile radius around Wilmington — making it one of the world's most restricted plant habitats.
Penicillin, one of the most important antibiotics in history, was accidentally discovered by Alexander Fleming when he noticed that bread mould was killing bacteria in his petri dish.
Trees in city centres often grow faster than their rural counterparts because urban areas are warmer — a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect extends the growing season.
The canopy layer of a rainforest, high up where the tallest trees spread their branches, is so dense that it forms its own distinct ecosystem, with plants, animals, and even soils found nowhere else.
In the Arctic tundra, where the growing season is very short and winds are fierce, willow trees grow only a few centimetres tall, creeping along the ground rather than growing upright.