According to Gray and Shear (2002) life originated in the primitive seas less than one billion years after the Earth was formed. Another three billion years must have passed before the first plants and animals appeared on the continents. However, Cowen (n.d.) argues that there is no idea when plants first colonized the land. Surely, they must have emerged gradually from water onto land, and the first land plants must have been largely aquatic, living in swamps and marshes.
The appearance of plants allowed the creation of an environment conducive to the evolution of animals with their different degrees of organization. From the above it can be deduced that plants played and are a fundamental part in the process of the evolution of the earth. The study of plants is of vital importance, their knowledge allows, among other things, to understand the interaction with the other living beings that inhabit the planet. Without their presence, the earth would be a bleak and desolate planet. No organism can replace them in their functions.
In the process of photosynthesis, a physiological phenomenon that allows the use of sunlight, water absorbed from the soil through the roots, CO2 and the action of enzymes, green plants synthesize organic compounds: first carbohydrates, then fats, protein, and vitamins, which become food for the plants themselves, animals, and humans (Uribe, 1991).
From plants are used as food, their roots (cassava, sweet potato, beet, radish, carrot); their stems (potato tubers); their leaves (cabbage, lettuce, spinach, chard); their fruits (papaya, avocado, pineapple, citrus, mango, apple, pear, blackberry, strawberry, grapes, bell pepper, tomato and orange); and, from seeds, all the so-called grains, example: beans, peas, barley, wheat, rye, fava beans, rice, soybeans and lentils.
I invite everyone to read Matias’ post with the topic of the day.
El Arbol de la Vida - Tercer Ciclo 