Plants are our fellow living beings

Plants are living organisms that can live on land or in water. It is found that about 3,00,000 species are present in the plants while about 2,50,000 species make flowers. Unlike animals, plants prepare their own food material through a process called photosynthesis. The synthesis of sugar from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight is basically classified as photosynthesis. The photosynthetic process gives rise to oxygen, which is formed by the splitting of water. The oxygen that is formed due to the reaction between water and carbon-di-oxide, is moved out from the plants through the leaf stomata. The energy that is essential for photosynthesis is taken by the plant from the sun.

Plants exist as different forms of trees, herbs, shrubs, lianes or simply as flowers. Plants are known to play a key role in the history of living organisms on earth. Plants are known to be the cause for the generation of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere that is essential for the survival of several organisms. The presence of oxygen was not there all the time on the earth. Initially, the atmosphere on earth did not have oxygen and the atmosphere was filled with carbon-di-oxide. The water stream and nitrogen were also part of the earth’s atmosphere initially. Hence, this atmosphere was not beneficial for the organisms on the earth to live, as most organisms would need oxygen for their survival.

It is found that initially living organisms on earth did not need oxygen for their survival. In fact, oxygen was considered as poison. It is estimated that since 2000 million years ago, plants and certain bacteria were responsible for starting photosynthesis, changing the atmosphere and making the environment suitable for the living organisms to survive. Plants evolved continuously by releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. Plants could develop seeds and give rise to fruits and hence called as spermatophytes. The plants that do not produce seeds and flowers are grouped under gymnosperms. The highly evolved plants called as flowering plants are also called as angiosperms.