Why Are Flowers Important to the Earth?
Flowers play an integral role in the movement of the seasons, providing primary-produced sugars for insects, habitat for microorganisms, and seeds for propagation of plant species. A flower is the sexually reproducing organ of a plant, whereby genetics are intermixed and evolution can occur. All higher life forms, such as animals and humans, could not exist without flowers and the primary producers which first fix the sunlight into edible forms.
1. Flower parts and pollination
o Flowers consist of brightly colored petals to attract insects, the vectors of their pollen. Within the petals are the sexual organs, the pistil and the stamens. As an insect approaches the center of the flower to drink of the sugars (nectar) produced there, pollen from the stamens typically adhere to their bodies. At the same time, pollen from other plants of the same species may get transferred from the insect to the pistil of the plant, and the pollen grain may then fertilize the flower.
Fertilization
o After a pollen grain has been transferred from one plant to the pistil of another, of the same species, the pollen grain grows a pollen tube into the ovary beneath the pistil. Here the floral genetics are combined via the coupling of gametes, and seeds are born. Most plant species cannot self-pollinate, as this lessens diversity, and must be pollinated by another individual of the same species for fertilization to occur.
The Essay on The Plant Kingdom
Plants provide nourishment for our bodies and souls. With the help of protists and fungi, plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food that sustains us — either directly or indirectly, by feeding other animals. Plants provide shade over our heads and cool carpets under our feet while surrounding us with beautiful colors and marking the change of seasons. Prominent plants give us a ...
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Food
o Flowers are primary producers — they manufacture simple sugars from photosynthesis. These sugars feed a whole variety of insects, from ants to butterflies, bees to beetles. Many insects are specialized to specific flowers, in a mutualism or obligatory symbiosis. Orchids, especially, have a very specific and integrated life-cycle with certain bees and wasps, as do certain types of fruit, such as the fig. In turn, these insects provide food for birds and secondary consumers. Flowers are as important to the earth as grasses and all plants — flowers are the means by which most plants continue their species, providing food for all higher forms of life. (For example, foods such as oranges, corn, barley, bread, saffron, coconut, shiitake, or any other mushroom, fruit, herb, or grain, rely on flowers for their genesis.)
Medicine
o Flowers also specialize in certain nutrients and chemicals in surprising arrays. In fact, plants and flowers are evolved intelligences for the transposition of water and the self-directing of certain elements, molecules, and polymers. Different plants may have surprisingly diverse sets of polymers, some of which are poisonous, others curative, still more psychoactive. In short, flowers offer a natural medicine cabinet for the discerning botanist, a ready cure for nearly all of nature’s ills. In the Amazon, for just one example, certain cures are made by shamans for diabetes — modern science is still incapable of replicating them, although their effects have been observed. This is one prime reason, among many more, of preserving rain forests. There are so many species of plants in such areas, it is believed by some scientists that less than five percent of all plant species in the Amazon have been classified, and still many more have been made extinct.
Soils
o Everything on Earth is integrated so that no single life exists without affecting another. Flowers, and the plants that bloom them, play a vital role in transforming soil substrates into organic horizons, layers of mineral-soils that have been transformed into organic matter by the life and death of plants. These soils become more fertile and better suited for sustaining the growth and proliferation of plant species. This is how life exerts a preference upon the conditions most favorable for its own development. In other words, one of the prime functions of life — and flowers — is to force a selection-pressure upon natural conditions, concluding in self-sustained existence whereby life, in all forms, proliferates over time.
The Term Paper on Australia Plant Life 8211 Species Australian
Although Australia Plant Life Although only a dozen plant families are unique to Australia, there are 530 unique genera and many unique species within these genera. As the Australian fragment of prehistoric Gondwanaland drifted north, its ancient flora became the basis for the present plant systems. Increasing aridity modified this vegetation, giving much of it hardened, pointed leaves of reduced ...
Symbolism and the poetry of life
o Flowers have long been symbols of mortality, beauty, and love. Because flowers are produced during natural cycles — plant cycles integrated with the Moon, the Sun, and the movement of the seasons, themselves symbolic of change, growth and diminution, life and death — they are ephemeral: They bud, bloom, and decay. Such beauty is all the more startling because it is temporary. Like the mandalas Tibetan monks draw with sand grains, only to blow away once finished, life arises like a flash in a wave. Flowers near perfectly embody this glorious temporariness, where everything is constantly turning into everything else. Through the temporary the permanent is maintained. Through the mortal the immortal is glimpsed. And by their mere existence, which is infinite in beauty and possibility, if limited in time and materiality, they make further life all the more possible. And, perhaps more importantly, enjoyable.
1. GARDEN
o Though gardens encompass many types of plants, many people automatically think of flowers when they think of gardens. Many homeowners plant flowers to brighten and beautify the landscape. Flowers such as sunflowers and sweet peas are used to attract butterflies to the garden, while begonias and bleeding heart varieties entice hummingbirds. Gardening has been considered therapeutic for many years, improving physical and mental skills of patients who do it. Toiling away in a flower bed can do a world of good, says master gardener Audrey Chadwick, Galveston County Master Gardeners.
Medicinal Uses
o Flowers have been used in medicinal applications around the world for centuries. In herbal medicine, flowers and their extracts are used to treat a wide range of ailments. Linden flowering herbs are used in many cough and cold products and are thought to help promote sweating for treating fevers, though there is no scientific proof to back this claim, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
The Essay on The Bane Of Life And Beauty Time
The Bane of Life and Beauty: Time 'For every man, Time is an emptying reservoir; to fret over how much you have left only wastes it.' - Lee Connolly. In every person's mind, a clock is running. A pendulum is constantly swinging and ticking into the future, into the unknown. Every person must, at sometime, recognize Time as a measurement of their own life and not something that can be ignored and ...
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For Celebrations and Ceremonies
o Flowers play an important role in many celebrations, and many flowers have become associated with symbolic meanings. Flowers are used to decorate a wedding chapel and are given on birthdays, Valentine’s day and anniversaries. Flowers are also common during funeral services, ceremonies that celebrate retirements and promotions and annual parades. For many people, flowers can provide an emotional lift during times of illness or challenge.
Fragrance
o While some aromatic flowers in their natural form, like roses and jasmine, are appreciated for the pleasant fragrances they emit, many have more specific uses. The lavender flower in dried form is used for scented sachets and potpourri, while its oil is useful in massage oil, soap fragrances, aromatic baths and floral water. The essential oil from a gardenia is common in perfume making, while cut flowers like roses and lilacs add a pleasant aroma to your home. In contrast, the pungent fragrance from the yarrow flower is useful for repelling undesirable insects from your garden.