The unique smell of rain comes from plant oils, bacteria, and ozone.
100 Mind-Blowing Plant Facts
In Bruges, Belgium, there is an underground pipeline that runs 2 miles to transfer beer from a brewery to the bottling plant.
A water dropwort is a highly poisonous plant. If it kills you, it can cause you to smile after you die. This is called a sardonic grin.
In 2013, a plant was genetically spliced that grew tomatoes above ground, and potatoes underground. It is called the TomTato.
Give something back to the Earth on March 12th – because it’s officially known as “Plant a Flower Day.”
Bees can make coloured honey. In France, there’s a biogas plant that manages waste from a Mars chocolate factory, where M&Ms are made. Beekeepers nearby noticed that their bees were making “unnatural shades of green and blue” honey. A spokesperson from the British Beekeepers’ Association theorized that the bees eating the sugary M&M waste caused the coloured honey.
The bamboo plant is the fastest-growing woody plant in the world. They can grow up to 35 inches per day.
For a spirit to be classed as tequila, it needs to be made from the blue agave plant. It’s made from the centre of the agave plant, which is called the piña.
A plant or animal cell that has a membrane and a nucleus is called a eukaryote. All animals, plants and fungi fall into this category.
Hundreds of rare animals and plants thrive on the North Korea-South Korea border. The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is 155 miles of untouched land that separates North and South Korea. In these heavily fortified fences, several endangered animal and plant species thrive. Ecologists identified around 2,900 plant species, 70 mammal species, and 320 bird species in this narrow buffer zone.
A janitor invented the flaming hot Cheetos. One of the janitors working at the Frito-Lay plant in Southern California pitched the idea of adding chilli powder to the regular product. Top Brass liked the idea and so did many consumers. This leads the janitor to a generous promotion where he is now an executive for PepsiCo.
A pineapple plant can only produce one pineapple a year. After fruiting, the plant dies. However, before it dies it also produces an offspring. These plantlets were then grown into another pineapple.
68% of plant species are endangered. Over half of all plant species are now classified as endangered. Prairie orchids, rafflesia, and Texas wild rice are only a few plant species endangered by climate change.
About 80,000 plant species are edible. However, in the present day, only 150 species are regularly cultivated. 30 of these products make up 95% of the human’s usual calorie and protein intake.
The Arabic word for fingers translates to ‘banana’. The Arabic word is banan. The banana fruit is harvested from the plant as a whole rack. A rack of bananas is also referred to as a hand.
Nicotine is poisonous to insects. The tobacco plant has a power neurotoxin that is dangerous for insects. While many other plants also have this, the concentration of nicotine in the tobacco plant is much higher than any other.
The garlic mustard is a member of only one family. It is a member of the mustard family. Garlic mustard is a biennial plant that has a life span of two years.
A plant that consumes rats can be found in the Philippines. Scientists discovered this rat-eating pitcher plant in the Philippines in the year 2009. This newly discovered pitcher plant is considered one of the biggest carnivorous plants on the planet.
The smell of freshly cut grass is noted to be the grass screaming in distress. This smell is a chemical that grass uses to call other critters to come and rescue them. The chemical compounds that the plant releases can also be used to poison an enemy and alert surrounding plants.
Children are more often poisoned by house plants rather than household chemicals. The poisoning could occur from eating or touching the leaves, roots, or berries. Having skin contact with the plant’s sap or juices could also cause poisoning. Some cases also occur when children drink water that comes from the plant tray.
Wisdom teeth have no purpose. Wisdom teeth are vestigial third molars that have helped in grinding plant tissue. It was believed that the jaws of human ancestors had larger jaws with more teeth. Often wisdom teeth are removed to prevent complicated problems that could occur if they continue to grow inside the mouth.
Over 70,000 plant species are medicinal. These plant species provide herbal remedies needed for certain ailments. Ginger, onion, and oregano are a few plants that have a purpose beyond our kitchens and culinary ventures.
The majority of plant life is located in the ocean. There are around a total of 228, 450 known species in the ocean and around 2 million more species are left undiscovered. Most of the plants found in the ocean are kelp, seaweed, seagrass, and algae. Marine plants are divided into 3 categories, euphotic/sunlit, dispothic/twilight, and aphotic/midnight.
Bananas don’t have seeds. This is one of the interesting facts that can send you into an existential crisis: If bananas don’t have seeds, where did they come from? Bananas grow from the small bulbs called suckers that grow from the plant. Once the current crop dies, they can replant these suckers to reap a new plant.
Farmers plant tall, dense trees on the edges of farms. The trees provide a barrier to harsh weather and prevent soil erosion.
The smell of freshly cut grass is a distress signal. The refreshing fragrance of fresh-cut grass is the plant’s release of enzymes as a result of stress—almost like the way we break a sweat when stressed. When grass is cut, the plant signals to the environment that it is being eaten or damaged.
The heart symbol was inspired by ancient birth control. Do you remember how shocked you were when you discovered in biology class that our hearts weren’t shaped like the cute symmetrical shape we see everywhere? Your next question probably would’ve been, “Well, how did they come up with that butt shape?” A theory suggests that the shape came from the silphium, a type of now-extinct plant that the ancient Greeks and Romans consumed for medicine, food, and birth control. Silphium seeds were shaped like our modern heart icon.
Bangkok has the world record for the longest name. Bangkok’s full name is “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.” Why it was eventually called Bangkok is still unconfirmed, but some theories point to the Thai word for “island village” or that it is named after a certain plant.
Lima beans have an amazing ability to command wasps as a defence. If insects are eating the lima bean’s leaves, the plant gives off a substance that acts as a signal to parasitic wasps to swoop in and destroy their enemy (i.e. the leaf-eating insects).
Elephants only eat plants, so they are herbivores. They eat grasses, bamboo, flowers, seeds, fruits, leaves and other plant matter.
Panama hats aren’t originally from Panama but from Ecuador! These timelessly stylish hats have been known to the Western world since at least the 1800s and have been seen atop the heads of many famous people ranging from President Theodore Roosevelt to Brad Pitt. They’re made from a type of palm called the Toquilla palm, a native Ecuadorian plant that is painstakingly woven together into the iconic shape. Artisans were struggling to sell the hats in Ecuador, so they exported them to Panama – where they ironically gained their name instead of from the country of origin!
Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant. One species can grow up to 35 inches in a day.
Since 2014 the Welsh government has donated a fruit tree to families in Uganda for every child born or adopted in Wales. In 2008 the “Plant!” scheme was announced, which would celebrate the birth or adoption of a child in Wales by planting a tree. Creating new woodlands for future generations, was already a magnificent scheme, but it became even better with the changes in April 2014. In Uganda, fruit trees are planted because they can provide vital fruit and timber in a region which has been decimated by deforestation.