The Plant Kingdom is amazing. Until recently, it was believed that they were totally different from us human beings, but more and more the line that separates both kingdoms becomes more blurred. Plants, like any animal, have to grow, develop, multiply to perpetuate the species and protect its offspring as much as possible to make sure they will have a future.
Obviously, the ways of doing this are very different, for the simple reason that they cannot be moved from one place to another. When they take root in a place, they will always stay there, growing upward looking for the sun. Some grow so large that they exceed 100 meters in height. Something unimaginable for an animal.
Eucalyptus, the fastest growing tree
The eucalyptus is a tree that is not usually very loved in the gardens, since it does not let anything grow under its shade. Its roots are also very strong, so they can easily break pipes, floors, and any other type of construction. But it is amazing: can grow at a rate of 1 meter per year, which makes it the bamboo of arboreal plants.
Giant sequoya, one of the tallest (and millennial) conifers
The Giant Sequoia, known by the scientific name Sequoiadendron giganteum, it is an amazing conifer. It grows at a very, very slow rate, about 10cm / year, but over time can reach a height of 105 meters and a trunk diameter of 10m. This log does an amazing thing: it radiates heat.
In the old days, when the aborigines could live on their lands, They were introduced into the hollow trunk of a Sequoia that could well reach 3200 years of life to protect itself from the cold winter from this part of California, which is where it hails from.
Plants, those that give us life
All plant beings need to breathe. This is something we must keep in mind. They do it both during the day and at night, since otherwise they would not be able to survive. But when the sun is out, they do something no human can do: the photosynthesis. This process consists of transforming the energy from the king star into chemical energy, with which they make their food (basically, sugars).
But it is much more than feeding, because with photosynthesis absorb carbon dioxide through the pores of the leaves and transform it into oxygen, which as we know is a gas that allows us to breathe.
The Saguaro is practically all water
El Saguaro, whose scientific name is The giant carnage, is a cactus native to the Sonoran Desert. It grows very slowly, at a rate of about 2cm each year, but it is the perfect example that cacti need water to survive: when it rains, can absorb 750 liters of water that will keep him alive.
Therefore, it is not that cacti resist drought, but rather what happens is that they store large amounts of the precious liquid. But this water has to come from somewhere. In habitat it is from monsoons and morning dew, but in the rest of the world it has to be from irrigation.
Ferns have been here for millions of years
Ferns are one of the oldest plants in the world. In fact, they are so primitive that, when the first dinosaurs appeared between 231 and 243 million years ago, these plant beings had already been colonizing planet Earth for more than 100 million years. Yes Yes, It is estimated that they have been here about 420 million years. There is nothing!
Plants have their own enemies too: the Strangler Fig.
In India a species of Ficus grows which is one of those that no plant wants to have around. His name says it all: strangler fig. Scientists call her ficus benghalensis. It is a plant that begins as an epiphyte growing on a branch of a tree but that, after a few years, when its roots touch the ground and become stronger while literally strangling the tree on which it develops, it ends up being a tree.
Curious, right?