Plants Around Us
Science Four
Plants and Their Types
We see different types of plants around us. Plants are very important for us. Plants give us food to get energy and to do work. Plants give us oxygen to survive. Plants give us wood to make home and furniture. Without plants no animals can survive.
Plants are of different shapes and size. Plants grow in different places, such as mountains, deserts, marshy areas and even in water.
According to places plants can be divided into two types.
- Plants that grow on land (Terrestrial plants).
- Plants that grow in water (Aquatic plants)
(1) Plants that grow on land areas
Plants that grow on lands are called Terrestrial plants. Plants that grow on land or Terrestrial plants further can be divided into following four types:
A. Plants that grow on planes:
There are many trees grow in planes, such as Mango, neem, sal, sheesham, peepal, banyan, etc. These trees have many branches and they are very big in size. Their life span is very long. Many Baniyan and Peepal trees are of hundred years old. They give shed and are home of many animals. They give and wood for making home and furniture.
B. Plants of hills
There are many plants grow in hilly areas. These trees are long, tall, straight, conical in shape and green. Their leaves are narrow and have needle like shape. Narrow and needle like shape of leaves and conical shape of plants protect them from snow. Because of such shape snow falls on them get slide down and protect them from getting broken. For example - Pine, deodar, cedar, spruce and fir grows on hills.
C. Plants of desert areas
Deserts are hot and dry. Many plants grow in deserts. For example – plants of Cactus, babool, etc. Such plants can survive even great scarcity of water. Leaves of such plants are modified into spines like shapes. Spine like shapes of leaves prevent the more evaporation of water through leaves. Their stems are thick and green. Their roots are well developed and go into deeper to hold the plants right in the soil.
D. Plants of hot and wet region
Many plants grow in hot and wet region, such as Peepal, banyan, Teak, Rubber, Coconut, etc. They are long and straight in shape. Most of them are very big in size. They have a large number of leaves. They remain green in all seasons.
Plants that grow in hot and wet region do not shed their all of leaves in any season and are called Evergreen Trees. Forest with evergreen trees is called Evergreen Forest. Evergreen forests are homes of many animals.
Some small plant like pepper, cotton, rice and banana also grow in hot and wet region.
E. Plants of marshy areas
Plants of Mangroves grow in marshy area. Because of water logging and marshy land, the roots of mangroves trees do not get sufficient oxygen so they get developed into special root for breathing called aerial roots or breathing roots. Aerial roots arise from the main root and come out of the soil above the water level to take oxygen from air.
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