Plants

The planet Earth is dominated by plants, and the green plant is fundamental to all other life. Charles Lewis explored human ties to the green world and concluded that people and [Page 349]plants are entwined by threads that reach back to our very beginnings as a species. Plants have a wide spectrum of uses, supplying our food requirements either directly or indirectly as feed for animals. Crop production—the management of useful plants—is the very basis of our civilization. Plants are used as a source of construction materials and as the raw materials in the manufacture of fabrics and paper. Plants are the basis of many of the complex substances used such as dyes, tannins, waxes, resins, flavorings, medicines, and drugs. Plants, in addition to having ...