Plants are a major group of living things (about 300,000 species), including familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, and ferns. Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move or have sensory organs, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are ...

Including:

• Plant - Embryophytes
• Plant - Algae and Fungi
• Plant - Importance
• Plant - Growth
• Plant - Fossils
• Plant - Distribution
• Plant - References and further reading

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Most familiar are the multicellular land plants, called embryophytes. They include the vascular plants, plants with full systems of leaves, stems, and roots. They also include a few of their close relatives, often called bryophytes, of which mosses and liverworts are the most common. All of these plants have eukaryotic cells with cell walls composed of cellulose, and most obtain their energy through photosynthesis, using light and carbon dioxide to synthesize food. About three hundred plant species do not photosynthesize but ar ...

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Plant, Plant - Embryophytes, Plant - Algae and Fungi, Plant - Importance, Plant - Growth, Plant - Fossils, Plant - Distribution, Plant - References and further reading

Read more here: » Plant: Encyclopedia II - Plant - Embryophytes

Plant fossils include roots, wood, leaves, seeds, fruit, pollen, spores, phytoliths, and amber (the fossilized resin produced by some plants). Fossil land plants are recorded in terrestrial, lacustrine, fluvial and nearshore marine sediments. Pollen, spores and algae (dinoflagellates and acritarchs) are used for dating sedimentary rock sequences. The remains of fossil plants are not as common as fossil animals, although plant fossils are locally ab ...

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Plant, Plant - Embryophytes, Plant - Algae and Fungi, Plant - Importance, Plant - Growth, Plant - Fossils, Plant - Distribution, Plant - References and further reading

Read more here: » Plant: Encyclopedia II - Plant - Fossils

It is a common misconception that most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the soil, when in fact almost all of it is actually taken from the air. Through a process known as photosynthesis, plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the air into simple sugars. These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Plants rely on soil primarily for water (in quantitative terms), but also obtain nitrogen, phospho ...

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Plant, Plant - Embryophytes, Plant - Algae and Fungi, Plant - Importance, Plant - Growth, Plant - Fossils, Plant - Distribution, Plant - References and further reading

Read more here: » Plant: Encyclopedia II - Plant - Growth

The algae comprise several different groups of organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis. However, they are not classified within the kingdom plantae but in the kingdom protista instead. The most conspicuous are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that often closely resemble terrestrial plants, but as stated above are not plants, found among the green, red, and brown algae. These and other algal groups also include various single-celled creatures and forms that are simple collections of cells, without differentiated tissues. Many ca ...

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Plant, Plant - Embryophytes, Plant - Algae and Fungi, Plant - Importance, Plant - Growth, Plant - Fossils, Plant - Distribution, Plant - References and further reading

Read more here: » Plant: Encyclopedia II - Plant - Algae and Fungi

The photosynthesis and carbon fixation conducted by land plants and algae are the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all habitats. These processes also radically changed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, which as a result contains a large proportion of oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively few, anaerobic environments. Much of human nutrition depends on cereals. Other plants that are eaten include fruits, vegetables, herbs, an ...

See also:

Plant, Plant - Embryophytes, Plant - Algae and Fungi, Plant - Importance, Plant - Growth, Plant - Fossils, Plant - Distribution, Plant - References and further reading

Read more here: » Plant: Encyclopedia II - Plant - Importance