While gardeners and nature lovers appreciate the beauty and enormous environmental contributions plants offer our world, many others still see plants as the lesser cousins to their counterparts in the animal kingdom. So not true! Here’s how plants differ from animals and why they’re so special:

Plants vs. Animals – What Makes an Organism an Animal?

Lack of Cell Walls: Unlike plants, animals do not have cell walls surrounding their cells. Instead, their cells are typically surrounded by a flexible plasma membrane.

Nervous System and Mobility: Animals possess a nervous system that allows for sensory perception, coordination, and response to stimuli. Many animals exhibit mobility, either through muscle-powered movement or other mechanisms, allowing them to seek out food, mates, and shelter.

Heterotrophic Nutrition: Animals are heterotrophs, meaning they obtain their energy by consuming organic matter, typically other organisms or the products of those organisms. They cannot produce their own food through photosynthesis as plants do.

Multicellularity: Animals are multicellular organisms, composed of specialized cells organized into tissues, organs, and organ systems.

Reproduction and Development: Most animals reproduce sexually. However, some animals, such as starfish and hydra, can reproduce asexually.

Diverse Body Plans: Animals exhibit a vast array of body types that reflect their adaptations to different ecological niches and lifestyles.

Behavior and Communication: Animals display a wide range of behaviors and communication strategies, including territorial defense, courtship displays, and social interactions. These behaviors play crucial roles in survival, reproduction, and maintaining social structures within animal communities.

Plants vs. Animals – What Makes an Organism a Plant?

Photosynthesis: Plants are autotrophic organisms, meaning they produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis. They contain chlorophyll, a pigment that captures sunlight, allowing them to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen.

Cell Wall and Cellulose: Plant cells have rigid cell walls composed primarily of cellulose, providing structural support and protection. This feature distinguishes them from animals, whose cells lack cell walls.

Multicellularity: Most plants are multicellular organisms, composed of specialized cells organized into tissues, organs, and systems. This complex cellular structure allows plants to carry out various functions efficiently.

Adaptations to Land: Plants have evolved various adaptations that enable them to thrive on land, including roots for anchorage and nutrient absorption, specialized tissues for transporting water and nutrients (xylem and  phloem), and structures like stomata for gas exchange.

And a Few Plant Facts:

The Green, Green Grass of Home: Not all plants are green. The green color we associate with most plants is due to the chemical pigment, chlorophyll, contained within their cells.

Largest Plant: The largest plant on Earth is actually a network of quaking aspen trees in Utah called “Pando.” Pando spreads out over 106 acres, and although each tree lives for about 130 years, the entire organism consists of over 40,000 individual trees and has been estimated to be around 80,000 years old.

Fastest Grower: Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the world. It can grow nearly three feet in a day.

The Green Planet: There are approximately 320,000 species of plants on our planet, including Antarctica.

Dinner Is Served: There are more than 80,000 different plant species that are edible.

Good Medicine: Over 50,000 plant species are used for traditional and modern medicines. However, only one percent of known plants has been investigated for their potential medicinal benefits.

Chatty Plants: Plants communicate with each other through a variety of chemical signals. Root exudates released by plants into the soil share nutrients and even modify the behavior of neighboring plants. Furthermore, plants can emit pheromones and other chemicals into the air when they are attacked by pests or experience other harmful actions. These chemicals prompt neighboring plants to release additional phytochemicals to guard against further invasion and damage.

Love the smell of freshly mowed grass? What you are smelling is the aerosolization of oxygenated hydrocarbons, like methanol, ethanol, and aldehyde, which are released by grass when it is cut. It may smell like summer and fun in the sun to humans, but to grass, it is a  chemical signal to other plants that they are in danger and an invitation to birds and other predators of grass-eating insects that dinner has arrived.

All in the Family: Plants recognize other plants within their species and family and can even share nutrients and protection with one another. What’s even more interesting is that they also recognize non-familial plants and can create hostile growing environments for plants they perceive as a threat or competitors in search of water and nutrients.

Do What Moves You: Many plants exhibit subtle movement, such as the opening and closing of flowers during the day. Sunflowers exhibit a plant movement referred to as heliotropism, which means they track the Sun’s movement across the sky during the day. Interestingly, once sunflowers reach maturity, they generally face east, providing maximum exposure to the morning sun. More complex plant movements, such as those exhibited by Venus flytraps, are still not completely understood.

Groovin’ to the Music: Researchers found that many plants exhibit increased growth rates when light jazz is played. Growth was further increased when Canon in D major for violin by Johann Pachelbel was broadcast at 80 to 85 dB. Unfortunately, most plants were not found to be fans of heavy metal music (sorry Ozzy). Not surprisingly, plants responded most positively to gentle breezes and birdsong.

The Sound of Silence: We love our plants, and they seem to like us. Many plants do increase their growth rates when humans talk to them, but they generally don’t like to be touched. Plants probably interpret tactile stimulation as an environmental threat. When we talk to plants, we exhale carbon dioxide, which plants use for photosynthesis and growth.

Friends of the Environment: Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through a process called photosynthesis, which uses sunlight and water to produce carbohydrates and oxygen. This process acts as a natural carbon sink, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the form of organic carbon in plant tissues. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by plants can vary widely depending on factors such as the type of plant, environmental conditions, and ecosystem dynamics. However, on a global scale, forests, grasslands, and crops absorb approximately 120 gigatons of carbon per year through photosynthesis. That’s roughly the weight of 12 Eiffel Towers.

Redefining Consciousness: Plants demonstrate the ability to remember past events and experiences, such as drought conditions or attacks by pests, and respond to friendly family members or foreign plants that threaten their survival. How plants encode, store, and retrieve this information without a nervous system is still not fully understood and challenges scientists to reconsider the traditional notions of intelligence and consciousness.

For more wonders and fun facts/trivia to consider about trees, leaves, flowers, plant sex…and THE ZOMBIE FUNGUS, CORDYCEPS, from the show “THE LAST OF US”, …..you’ll have to read the book :)