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PLANT FACTSAn African bugleweed synthesizes in its tissues a substance similar to the hormone that controls the development of caterpillars. If a caterpillar is persuaded, experimentally, to ingest that substance, then when it turns into a butterfly it will develop two heads and die. -David Attenborough, The Private Life of Plants, p70 84% of a raw apple and 96% of a raw cucumber is waterA notch in a tree will remain the same distance from the ground as the tree grows. A pineapple is a berry. Arrowroot, an antidote for poisoned arrows, is used as a thickener in cooking (so if you ever get shot with a poison arrow, do not go to a doctor, look in your kitchen cabinet.Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew cannabis sativa (marijuana) on their plantations. In the Netherlands, in 1634, a collector paid 1,000 pounds of cheese, four oxen, eight pigs, 12 sheep, a bed, and a suit of clothes for a single bulb of the Viceroy tulip. No species of wild plant produces a flower or blossom that is absolutely black, and so far, none has been developed artificially. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously. Peanuts are beans. Quinine, one of the most important drugs known to man, is obtained from the dried bark of an evergreen tree native to South America.The California redwood - coast redwood and giant sequoia - are the tallest and largest living organism in the world. The largest single flower is the Rafflesia or "corpse flower". They are generally 3 feet in diameter with the record being 42 inches.The oldest living thing in existence is not a giant redwood, but a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California, dated to be aged 4,600 years old. The rose family of plants, in addition to flowers, gives us apples, pears, plums, cherries, almonds, peaches and apricots. Asparagus is a member of the lily family, which also includes onions, leeks, and garlic. Source of this fact and the next three.The bright orange color of carrots tells you they are an excellent source of Vitamin A which is important for good eyesight, especially at night. Vitamin A helps your body fight infection, and keeps your skin and hair healthy. Onions contain a mild antibiotic that fights infections, soothes burns, tames bee stings and relieves the itch of athletes foot.One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of pop.Venus-fly-trap, pitcher plant, bladder wort etc are insect eating plants; they derive their nitrogen from them.In California's Wheeler Park, there is a Bristlecone pine tree with an estimated age of 5,000 years.An American coast red wood reaches a height of 110 m.Bamboo is not a tree but a grass. It grows amazingly fast, at the rate of three feet a day.The sunflower always turns towards sunlight.Coffee was discovered by goats.The flower of artillery plant measures only 0.35 mm in diameter. It is the smallest ever known flower.The flower of Rafflesia measures 90 cm in diameter and is the largest known flower.Boxwood is so heavy that it does not float on water but sinks.Seaweed is used in the manufacturing of fertilizers, medicines, paint, toothpaste and in ice creams too.The oldest known living seed came from a North American Arctic Lupin. It was found in 1954, buried in frozen silt near Miller Greek in central Yukon-Canada, by a mining engineer named Schmidt. It had been there for 10,000 years. Yet, when scientist planted it, a plant grew which was identical to the modern plant.The greatest depth at which plant life has been found is 884 feet.There are about 252 varieties of potato grown in the world.Coniferous forests of the Northern Russia are the largest in the world.Edible mushrooms grow to their full size within seven days.Tree trunk of the baobab tree in Kenya is so long that some people make their homes with the hollowed out trunks.A cactus plant, only three feet tall may have roots spreading out to a length of ten feet across the desert.Orchid seeds are so small that one million of these would weigh somewhat less than 1 gm.Plants produce oxygen in day time which is ten times more than the carbon dioxide produced at night. ................
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