Plant

{{further|Kingdom (biology)#History}}

All living things were traditionally placed into one of two groups, plants and animals. This classification dates from Aristotle (384–322 BC), who distinguished different levels of beings in his biology,{{Cite book |last=Hull |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymrg0lMEYt0C&q=PA84 |title=Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2010 |page=82 |isbn=9780226360492 }} based on whether living things had a "sensitive soul" or like plants only a "vegetative soul".{{cite book |last=Leroi |first=Armand Marie |author-link=Armand Marie Leroi |title=The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science |title-link=Aristotle's Lagoon |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-4088-3622-4 |pages=111–119}} Theophrastus, Aristotle's student, continued his work in plant taxonomy and classification.{{Cite web |title=Taxonomy and Classification |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199941728/obo-9780199941728-0065.xml |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=obo }} Much later, Linnaeus (1707–1778) created the basis of the modern system of scientific classification, but retained the animal and plant kingdoms, naming the plant kingdom the Vegetabilia.

{{anchor|Current definitions of Plantae}}

When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a specific group of organisms or taxa, it usually refers to one of four concepts. From least to most inclusive, these four groupings are:

File:Cosmarium201512081550.JPG is a single cell.]]

File:US 199 Redwood Highway.jpg is up to {{convert|380|ft|m|order=flip}} tall.]]

There are about 382,000 accepted species of plants, of which the great majority, some 283,000, produce seeds.{{cite web |title=Numbers of threatened species by major groups of organisms (1996–2010) |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature |date=11 March 2010 |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/summarystatistics/2010_1RL_Stats_Table_1.pdf |access-date=27 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721034312/https://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/summarystatistics/2010_1RL_Stats_Table_1.pdf |archive-date= 21 July 2011 |url-status= live }} The table below shows some species count estimates of different green plant (Viridiplantae) divisions. About 85–90% of all plants are flowering plants. Several projects are currently attempting to collect records on all plant species in online databases, e.g. the World Flora Online.{{cite web|work=The World Flora Online|title=An Online Flora of All Known Plants |url=http://worldfloraonline.org/|access-date=25 March 2020}}{{Cite web |date=2016-05-12 |title=How many plant species are there in the world? Scientists now have an answer |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323202847/https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/many-plants-world-scientists-may-now-answer/ |url-status=live }}

Plants range in scale from single-celled organisms such as desmids (from {{val|10|u=micrometres|s={{nbsp}}(μm)}} across) and picozoa (less than {{val|3|u=um}} across),{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=John D.|last2=McCourt |first2=Richard M. |chapter=Chapter 9. Conjugating Green Algae Including Desmids |editor-first1=John D. |editor-last1=Wehr |editor-first2=Robert G. |editor-last2=Sheath |editor-first3=John Patrick |editor-last3=Kociolek |date=2014 |edition=2 |title=Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-12-385876-4 }}{{cite journal |last1=Seenivasan |first1=Ramkumar |last2=Sausen |first2=Nicole |last3=Medlin |first3=Linda K. |last4=Melkonian |first4=Michael |title=Picomonas judraskeda Gen. Et Sp. Nov.: The First Identified Member of the Picozoa Phylum Nov., a Widespread Group of Picoeukaryotes, Formerly Known as 'Picobiliphytes' |journal=PLOS One |volume=8 |issue=3 |date=26 March 2013 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0059565 |page=e59565|pmid=23555709 |pmc=3608682 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...859565S |doi-access=free }} to the largest trees (megaflora) such as the conifer Sequoia sempervirens (up to {{convert|380|ft|m|order=flip}} tall) and the angiosperm Eucalyptus regnans (up to {{convert|325|ft|m|abbr=on|round=5|order=flip}} tall).{{cite web |url=http://www.conifers.org/cu/Sequoia.php |title=Sequoia sempervirens |work=The Gymnosperm Database |editor=Earle, Christopher J. |date=2017 |access-date=2017-09-15 |archive-date=2016-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401041103/http://www.conifers.org/cu/Sequoia.php |url-status=live }}

The naming of plants is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants{{Cite web |title=International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants |url=https://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=www.iapt-taxon.org }} and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.{{Cite book |last=Gledhill |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ6PyhVuecwC&dq=international+code+of+nomenclature+for+cultivated+plants&pg=PA26 |title=The Names of Plants |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |pages=26 |isbn=978-0-5218-6645-3 }}

{{main|Evolutionary history of plants}}

The ancestors of land plants evolved in water. An algal scum formed on the land {{Ma |1200}}, but it was not until the Ordovician, around {{Ma |450}}, that the first land plants appeared, with a level of organisation like that of bryophytes.{{cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Thomas N. |title=The Origin of Land Plants: Some Answers, More Questions |journal=Taxon |date=November 1988 |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=805–833 |doi=10.2307/1222087 |jstor=1222087|bibcode=1988Taxon..37..805T }}{{Cite web |last=Ciesielski |first=Paul F. |title=Transition of plants to land |url=https://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pciesiel/gly3150/plant.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302040410/https://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pciesiel/gly3150/plant.html |archive-date=2 March 2008}} However, fossils of organisms with a flattened thallus in Precambrian rocks suggest that multicellular freshwater eukaryotes existed over 1000 mya.{{Cite journal |last1=Strother |first1=Paul K. |last2=Battison |first2=Leila |last3=Brasier |first3=Martin D. |last4=Wellman |first4=Charles H. |date=26 May 2011 |title=Earth's earliest non-marine eukaryotes |journal=Nature |volume=473 |issue=7348 |pages=505–509 |doi=10.1038/nature09943 |pmid=21490597 |bibcode=2011Natur.473..505S |s2cid=4418860 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51048998}}

Primitive land plants began to diversify in the late Silurian, around {{Ma |420}}. Bryophytes, club mosses, and ferns then appear in the fossil record.{{cite book |last1=Crang |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tt58DwAAQBAJ&q=plant+anatomy+a+concept-based+approach+to+the+structure+of+seed+plants |title=Plant Anatomy: A Concept-Based Approach to the Structure of Seed Plants |last2=Lyons-Sobaski |first2=Sheila |last3=Wise |first3=Robert |publisher=Springer |year=2018 |pages=17|isbn=9783319773155 }} Early plant anatomy is preserved in cellular detail in an early Devonian fossil assemblage from the Rhynie chert. These early plants were preserved by being petrified in chert formed in silica-rich volcanic hot springs.{{cite journal |last1=Garwood |first1=Russell J. |last2=Oliver |first2=Heather |last3=Spencer |first3=Alan R. T. |title=An introduction to the Rhynie chert |journal=Geological Magazine |volume=157 |issue=1 |year=2019 |pages=47–64 |doi=10.1017/S0016756819000670 |s2cid=182210855 |url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/an-introduction-to-the-rhynie-chert(19df3309-02af-4d25-b75b-1299cf541fac).html}}

By the end of the Devonian, most of the basic features of plants today were present, including roots, leaves and secondary wood in trees such as Archaeopteris.{{cite journal |last=Beck |first=C. B. |title=The identity of Archaeopteris and Callixylon |journal=Brittonia |volume=12 |pages=351–368 |year=1960 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/2805124 |jstor=2805124 |bibcode=1960Britt..12..351B |s2cid=27887887 }}{{cite journal |last1=Rothwell |first1=G. W. |last2=Scheckler |first2=S. E. |last3=Gillespie |first3=W. H. |year=1989 |title=Elkinsia gen. nov., a Late Devonian gymnosperm with cupulate ovules |journal=Botanical Gazette |volume=150 |issue=2 |pages=170–189 |doi=10.1086/337763 |jstor=2995234 |s2cid=84303226 }} The Carboniferous period saw the development of forests in swampy environments dominated by clubmosses and horsetails, including some as large as trees, and the appearance of early gymnosperms, the first seed plants.{{cite web |title=Plants |url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/plants-2/ |access-date=2023-03-09 |website=British Geological Survey }} The Permo-Triassic extinction event radically changed the structures of communities.{{cite journal |last1=McElwain |first1=Jennifer C. |last2=Punyasena |first2=Surangi W. |title=Mass extinction events and the plant fossil record |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=22 |issue=10 |year=2007 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2007.09.003 |pages=548–557|pmid=17919771 |bibcode=2007TEcoE..22..548M }} This may have set the scene for the evolution of flowering plants in the Triassic (~{{ma |200}}), with an adaptive radiation in the Cretaceous so rapid that Darwin called it an "abominable mystery".{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=William E. |date=January 2009 |title=The meaning of Darwin's "abominable mystery" |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3732/ajb.0800150 |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=5–21 |doi=10.3732/ajb.0800150 |pmid=21628174|bibcode=2009AmJB...96....5F }}{{cite journal |last1=Berendse |first1=Frank |last2=Scheffer |first2=Marten |title=The angiosperm radiation revisited, an ecological explanation for Darwin's 'abominable mystery' |journal=Ecology Letters |volume=12 |issue=9 |year=2009 |doi=10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01342.x |pages=865–872|pmid=19572916 |pmc=2777257 |bibcode=2009EcolL..12..865B }}{{Cite journal |last1=Herendeen |first1=Patrick S. |last2=Friis |first2=Else Marie |last3=Pedersen |first3=Kaj Raunsgaard |last4=Crane |first4=Peter R. |date=2017-03-03 |title=Palaeobotanical redux: revisiting the age of the angiosperms |url=https://rdcu.be/c0Zhm |journal=Nature Plants |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=17015 |doi=10.1038/nplants.2017.15 |pmid=28260783 |bibcode=2017NatPl...317015H |s2cid=205458714 }} Conifers diversified from the Late Triassic onwards, and became a dominant part of floras in the Jurassic.{{Cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Brian A. |last2=Serbet |first2=Rudolph |last3=Hieger |first3=Timothy J. |last4=Taylor |first4=Edith L. |date=October 2018 |title=Additional evidence for the Mesozoic diversification of conifers: Pollen cone of Chimaerostrobus minutus gen. et sp. nov. (Coniferales), from the Lower Jurassic of Antarctica |journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology |volume=257 |pages=77–84 |doi=10.1016/j.revpalbo.2018.06.013 |bibcode=2018RPaPa.257...77A |s2cid=133732087|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Leslie |first1=Andrew B. |last2=Beaulieu |first2=Jeremy |last3=Holman |first3=Garth |last4=Campbell |first4=Christopher S. |last5=Mei |first5=Wenbin |last6=Raubeson |first6=Linda R. |last7=Mathews |first7=Sarah |date=September 2018 |title=An overview of extant conifer evolution from the perspective of the fossil record |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=105 |issue=9 |pages=1531–1544 |doi=10.1002/ajb2.1143 |pmid=30157290 |s2cid=52120430 |doi-access=free }}

File:Rhynia stem.jpg |Cross-section of a stem of Rhynia, an early land plant, preserved in Rhynie chert from the early Devonian

File:Devonianscene-green.jpg |By the Devonian, plants had adapted to land with roots and woody stems.

File:Asterophyllites Equisetiformis.jpg |In the Carboniferous, horsetails such as Asterophyllites proliferated in swampy forests.

File:Petrified Araucaria cone.jpg|Conifers became diverse and often dominant in the Jurassic. Cone of Araucaria mirabilis.

File:Sagaria cilentana (cropped).jpg |Adaptive radiation in the Cretaceous created many flowering plants, such as Sagaria in the Ranunculaceae.

In 2019, a phylogeny based on genomes and transcriptomes from 1,153 plant species was proposed.{{cite journal |last1=Leebens-Mack |first1=M. |last2=Barker |first2=M. |last3=Carpenter |first3=E. |author4-link=Michael Deyholos |last4=Deyholos |first4=M. K. |last5=Gitzendammer |first5=M. A. |last6=Graham |first6=S.W. |last7=Grosse |first7=I. |last8=Li |first8=Zheng |display-authors=3 |title=One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants |journal=Nature |volume=574 |issue=7780 |year=2019 |pages=679–685 |doi=10.1038/s41586-019-1693-2 |pmid=31645766 |pmc=6872490 |doi-access=free }} The placing of algal groups is supported by phylogenies based on genomes from the Mesostigmatophyceae and Chlorokybophyceae that have since been sequenced. Both the "chlorophyte algae" and the "streptophyte algae" are treated as paraphyletic (vertical bars beside phylogenetic tree diagram) in this analysis, as the land plants arose from within those groups.{{cite journal |last1=Liang |first1=Zhe |display-authors=etal |title=Mesostigma viride Genome and Transcriptome Provide Insights into the Origin and Evolution of Streptophyta |journal=Advanced Science |volume=7 |issue=1 |year=2019 |pages=1901850 |doi=10.1002/advs.201901850 |pmid=31921561 |pmc=6947507 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Sibo |display-authors=etal |title=Genomes of early-diverging streptophyte algae shed light on plant terrestrialization |journal=Nature Plants |volume=6 |issue=2 |year=2020 |pages=95–106 |doi=10.1038/s41477-019-0560-3 |pmid=31844283 |pmc=7027972 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020NatPl...6...95W }} The classification of Bryophyta is supported both by Puttick et al. 2018,{{cite journal |last1=Puttick |first1=Mark |display-authors=etal |title=The Interrelationships of Land Plants and the Nature of the Ancestral Embryophyte |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=5 |year=2018 |pages=733–745 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.01.063 |pmid=29456145|doi-access=free |bibcode=2018CBio...28E.733P |hdl=10400.1/11601 |hdl-access=free }} and by phylogenies involving the hornwort genomes that have also since been sequenced.{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Jian |display-authors=etal |title=The hornwort genome and early land plant evolution |journal=Nature Plants |volume=6 |issue=2 |year=2020 |pages=107–118 |doi=10.1038/s41477-019-0588-4|pmid=32042158 |pmc=7027989 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020NatPl...6..107Z }}{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Fay Wei |display-authors=etal |title=Anthoceros genomes illuminate the origin of land plants and the unique biology of hornworts |journal=Nature Plants |volume=6 |issue=3 |year=2020 |pages=259–272 |doi=10.1038/s41477-020-0618-2|pmid=32170292 |pmc=8075897 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020NatPl...6..259L }}

{{clade|style=font-size:90%;line-height:80%;

|grouplabel1={{clade labels |label1="chlorophyte algae"|top1=15%

|label2="streptophyte algae"|top2=33%}}

|label1=Archaeplastida

|1={{clade

|1=Rhodophyta 50px

|2={{clade

|1=Glaucophyta 50px

|label2=Viridiplantae

|sublabel2= (green plants)

|2={{clade

|1=Chlorophyta 50px |bar1=darkgreen

|2={{clade

|1=Prasinococcales |bar1=darkgreen

|2=  |state2=none |style2=font-size:50%;line-height:50%;

|3={{clade

|1= {{clade

|1=Mesostigmatophyceae|bar1=blue

|2={{clade

|1=Chlorokybophyceae|bar1=blue

|2=Spirotaenia 30px |bar2=blue

}}

}}

|2={{clade

|1=Klebsormidiales 50px |bar1=blue

|2={{clade

|1=Chara 40px |bar1=blue

|2={{clade

|1=Coleochaetales|bar1=blue

|2={{clade

|label1=Zygnematophyceae

|1=50px |bar1=blue

|label2=Embryophytes

|sublabel2= (land plants)

|2={{clade

|label1="Bryophytes"

|1={{clade

|1=Hornworts 40px

|label2=Setaphytes

|2={{clade

|1=Liverworts 50px

|2=Mosses 20px

}}

}}

|label2=Tracheophytes

|2={{clade

|1=Lycophytes 50px

|label2=Euphyllophytes

|2={{clade

|label1=Ferns

|1=50px

|label2=Spermatophytes

|sublabel2= (seed plants)

|2={{clade

|1=Gymnosperms 40px

|2=Angiosperms 50px

}}

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{{main|Plant physiology}}

{{main|Plant cell}}

File:Plant cell structure-en.svg

Plant cells have distinctive features that other eukaryotic cells (such as those of animals) lack. These include the large water-filled central vacuole, chloroplasts, and the strong flexible cell wall, which is outside the cell membrane. Chloroplasts are derived from what was once a symbiosis of a non-photosynthetic cell and photosynthetic cyanobacteria. The cell wall, made mostly of cellulose, allows plant cells to swell up with water without bursting. The vacuole allows the cell to change in size while the amount of cytoplasm stays the same.{{cite web |title=Plant Cells, Chloroplasts, and Cell Walls |url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/plant-cells-chloroplasts-and-cell-walls-14053956/ |website=Scitable by Nature Education |access-date=7 March 2023}}

{{further|Plant anatomy|Plant morphology}}

File:Plant Anatomy.svg system. 2. Root system. 3. Hypocotyl. 4. Terminal bud. 5. Leaf blade. 6. Internode. 7. Axillary bud. 8. Petiole. 9. Stem. 10. Node. 11. Tap root. 12. Root hairs. 13. Root tip. 14. Root cap]]

Most plants are multicellular. Plant cells differentiate into multiple cell types, forming tissues such as the vascular tissue with specialized xylem and phloem of leaf veins and stems, and organs with different physiological functions such as roots to absorb water and minerals, stems for support and to transport water and synthesized molecules, leaves for photosynthesis, and flowers for reproduction.{{cite web |last1=Farabee |first1=M. C. |title=Plants and their Structure |url=http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/BioBookPLANTANAT.html |publisher=Maricopa Community Colleges |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022174416/http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/BioBookPLANTANAT.html |archive-date=22 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}

{{main|Photosynthesis}}

Plants photosynthesize, manufacturing food molecules (sugars) using energy obtained from light. Plant cells contain chlorophylls inside their chloroplasts, which are green pigments that are used to capture light energy. The end-to-end chemical equation for photosynthesis is:{{cite web |last=Newton |first=John |title=What Is the Photosynthesis Equation? |url=https://sciencing.com/photosynthesis-equation-6962557.html |website=Sciencing |date=4 March 2023 |access-date=7 March 2023}}

:6CO2{} + 6H2O{} ->[\text{light}] C6H12O6{} + 6O2{}

This causes plants to release oxygen into the atmosphere. Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygen, alongside the contributions from photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria.{{cite journal |last1=Reinhard |first1=Christopher T. |last2=Planavsky |first2=Noah J. |last3=Olson |first3=Stephanie L. |last4=Lyons |first4=Timothy W. |last5=Erwin |first5=Douglas H. |display-authors=3 |title=Earth's oxygen cycle and the evolution of animal life |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=113 |issue=32 |date=25 July 2016 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1521544113 |pages=8933–8938|pmid=27457943 |pmc=4987840 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.8933R |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Field |first1=C. B. |last2=Behrenfeld |first2=M. J. |last3=Randerson |first3=J. T. |author4=Falkowski, P. |year=1998 |title=Primary production of the biosphere: Integrating terrestrial and oceanic components |journal=Science |volume=281 |pages=237–240 |doi=10.1126/science.281.5374.237 |pmid=9657713 |issue=5374 |bibcode=1998Sci...281..237F |url=https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9gm7074q |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925215921/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gm7074q |archive-date=25 September 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Tivy |first=Joy |title=Biogeography: A Study of Plants in the Ecosphere |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-89723-1 |oclc=1108871710 |pages=31, 108–110|publisher=Routledge }}

Plants that have secondarily adopted a parasitic lifestyle may lose the genes involved in photosynthesis and the production of chlorophyll.{{cite journal|first1=Xiao-Jian |last1=Qu |first2=Shou-Jin |last2=Fan |first3=Susann |last3=Wicke |first4=Ting-Shuang |last4=Yi |title=Plastome reduction in the only parasitic gymnosperm Parasitaxus is due to losses of photosynthesis but not housekeeping genes and apparently involves the secondary gain of a large inverted repeat |journal=Genome Biology and Evolution |volume=11 |issue=10 |date=2019 |pages=2789–2796 |doi=10.1093/gbe/evz187 |pmid=31504501 |pmc=6786476 }}

Growth is determined by the interaction of a plant's genome with its physical and biotic environment.{{cite journal |last1=Baucom |first1=Regina S. |last2=Heath |first2=Katy D. |last3=Chambers |first3=Sally M. |title=Plant–environment interactions from the lens of plant stress, reproduction, and mutualisms |journal=American Journal of Botany |publisher=Wiley |volume=107 |issue=2 |year=2020 |doi=10.1002/ajb2.1437 |pages=175–178|pmid=32060910 |pmc=7186814 }} Factors of the physical or abiotic environment include temperature, water, light, carbon dioxide, and nutrients in the soil.{{cite web |title=Abiotic Factors |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/resource-library-abiotic-factor/ |publisher=National Geographic |access-date=7 March 2023}} Biotic factors that affect plant growth include crowding, grazing, beneficial symbiotic bacteria and fungi, and attacks by insects or plant diseases.{{cite web |last1=Bareja |first1=Ben |title=Biotic Factors and Their Interaction With Plants |url=https://www.cropsreview.com/biotic-factors/ |website=Crops Review |access-date=7 March 2023 |date=10 April 2022}}

Frost and dehydration can damage or kill plants. Some plants have antifreeze proteins, heat-shock proteins and sugars in their cytoplasm that enable them to tolerate these stresses.{{cite journal |last1=Ambroise |first1=Valentin |last2=Legay |first2=Sylvain |last3=Guerriero |first3=Gea |last4=Hausman |first4=Jean-Francois |last5=Cuypers |first5=Ann |last6=Sergeant |first6=Kjell |display-authors=3 |title=The Roots of Plant Frost Hardiness and Tolerance |journal=Plant and Cell Physiology |volume=61 |issue=1 |date=18 October 2019 |doi=10.1093/pcp/pcz196 |pages=3–20|pmid=31626277 |pmc=6977023 }} Plants are continuously exposed to a range of physical and biotic stresses which cause DNA damage, but they can tolerate and repair much of this damage.{{cite journal |author1=Roldán-Arjona, T. |author2=Ariza, R. R. |title=Repair and tolerance of oxidative DNA damage in plants |journal=Mutation Research |volume=681 |issue=2–3 |pages=169–179 |year=2009 |pmid=18707020 |doi=10.1016/j.mrrev.2008.07.003 |bibcode=2009MRRMR.681..169R |url=https://zenodo.org/record/897726 |access-date=22 September 2017 |archive-date=23 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923050705/https://zenodo.org/record/897726 |url-status=live }}

{{main|Plant reproduction}}

Plants reproduce to generate offspring, whether sexually, involving gametes, or asexually, involving ordinary growth. Many plants use both mechanisms.{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Yun Young |last2=Kim |first2=Jae Geun |title=The optimal balance between sexual and asexual reproduction in variable environments: a systematic review |journal=Journal of Ecology and Environment |volume=40 |issue=1 |date=24 November 2016 |doi=10.1186/s41610-016-0013-0 |s2cid=257092048 |hdl=10371/100354 |hdl-access=free |doi-access=free }}

File:Alternation of generations simpler.svg between a haploid (n) gametophyte (top) and a diploid (2n) sporophyte (bottom), in all types of plant]]

When reproducing sexually, plants have complex lifecycles involving alternation of generations. One generation, the sporophyte, which is diploid (with 2 sets of chromosomes), gives rise to the next generation, the gametophyte, which is haploid (with one set of chromosomes). Some plants also reproduce asexually via spores. In some non-flowering plants such as mosses, the sexual gametophyte forms most of the visible plant.{{cite web |title=How Do Plants With Spores Reproduce? |url=https://sciencing.com/plants-spores-reproduce-4568855.html |website=Sciencing |date=23 April 2018 |access-date=7 March 2023}} In seed plants (gymnosperms and flowering plants), the sporophyte forms most of the visible plant, and the gametophyte is very small. Flowering plants reproduce sexually using flowers, which contain male and female parts: these may be within the same (hermaphrodite) flower, on different flowers on the same plant, or on different plants. The stamens create pollen, which produces male gametes that enter the ovule to fertilize the egg cell of the female gametophyte. Fertilization takes place within the carpels or ovaries, which develop into fruits that contain seeds. Fruits may be dispersed whole, or they may split open and the seeds dispersed individually.{{cite journal |last=Barrett |first=S. C. H. |year=2002 |title=The evolution of plant sexual diversity |url=http://labs.eeb.utoronto.ca/barrett/pdf/schb_189.pdf |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=274–284 |doi=10.1038/nrg776 |pmid=11967552 |s2cid=7424193 |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-date=27 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527102011/http://labs.eeb.utoronto.ca/barrett/pdf/schb_189.pdf |url-status=dead }}

File:RowOfPlants.JPG spreads asexually with runners in the sand.]]

Plants reproduce asexually by growing any of a wide variety of structures capable of growing into new plants. At the simplest, plants such as mosses or liverworts may be broken into pieces, each of which may regrow into whole plants. The propagation of flowering plants by cuttings is a similar process. Structures such as runners enable plants to grow to cover an area, forming a clone. Many plants grow food storage structures such as tubers or bulbs which may each develop into a new plant.{{cite web |title=Asexual reproduction in plants |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zs4tyrd/revision/3 |website=BBC Bitesize |access-date=7 March 2023}}

Some non-flowering plants, such as many liverworts, mosses and some clubmosses, along with a few flowering plants, grow small clumps of cells called gemmae which can detach and grow.{{cite journal |last1=Kato |first1=Hirotaka |last2=Yasui |first2=Yukiko |last3=Ishizaki |first3=Kimitsune |title=Gemma cup and gemma development in Marchantia polymorpha |journal=New Phytologist |volume=228 |issue=2 |date=19 June 2020 |doi=10.1111/nph.16655 |pages=459–465|pmid=32390245 |s2cid=218583032 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020NewPh.228..459K }}{{cite journal |last1=Moody |first1=Amber |last2=Diggle |first2=Pamela K. |last3=Steingraeber |first3=David A. |title=Developmental analysis of the evolutionary origin of vegetative propagules in Mimulus gemmiparus (Scrophulariaceae) |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=86 |issue=11 |year=1999 |doi=10.2307/2656789 |pages=1512–1522 |jstor=2656789 |pmid=10562243 }}

{{main|Plant disease resistance}}

Plants use pattern-recognition receptors to recognize pathogens such as bacteria that cause plant diseases. This recognition triggers a protective response. The first such plant receptors were identified in rice{{cite journal |last=Song |first=W. Y. |title=A receptor kinase-like protein encoded by the rice disease resistance gene, XA21 |journal=Science |volume=270 |issue=5243 |pages=1804–1806 |year=1995 |pmid=8525370 |doi=10.1126/science.270.5243.1804 |display-authors=etal |bibcode=1995Sci...270.1804S |s2cid=10548988 |url=https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4x0247kj |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107024436/https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4x0247kj |archive-date=7 November 2018 |url-status=live }} and in Arabidopsis thaliana.{{cite journal |last=Gomez-Gomez |first=L. |title=FLS2: an LRR receptor-like kinase involved in the perception of the bacterial elicitor flagellin in Arabidopsis |journal=Molecular Cell |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=1003–1011 |year=2000 |pmid=10911994 |doi=10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80265-8 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free }}

{{further|Plant genome}}

Plants have some of the largest genomes of all organisms.{{Cite journal|last1=Michael|first1=Todd P.|last2=Jackson|first2=Scott |date=1 July 2013|title=The First 50 Plant Genomes|journal=The Plant Genome |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=0 |doi=10.3835/plantgenome2013.03.0001in |doi-access=free}} The largest plant genome (in terms of gene number) is that of wheat (Triticum aestivum), predicted to encode ≈94,000 genes{{Cite journal |last1=Brenchley|first1=Rachel |last2=Spannagl |first2=Manuel |last3=Pfeifer |first3=Matthias |last4=Barker |first4=Gary L.A. |last5=D'Amore |first5=Rosalinda |last6=Allen |first6=Alexandra M. |last7=McKenzie |first7=Neil |last8=Kramer |first8=Melissa |last9=Kerhornou |first9=Arnau |display-authors=3 |date=29 November 2012 |title=Analysis of the bread wheat genome using whole-genome shotgun sequencing |journal=Nature |volume=491 |issue=7426 |pages=705–710 |doi=10.1038/nature11650 |pmc=3510651 |pmid=23192148 |bibcode=2012Natur.491..705B}} and thus almost 5 times as many as the human genome. The first plant genome sequenced was that of Arabidopsis thaliana which encodes about 25,500 genes.{{Cite journal |last=Arabidopsis Genome Initiative |date=14 December 2000 |title=Analysis of the genome sequence of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana |journal=Nature |volume=408 |issue=6814 |pages=796–815 |doi=10.1038/35048692 |pmid=11130711|bibcode=2000Natur.408..796T |doi-access=free }} In terms of sheer DNA sequence, the smallest published genome is that of the carnivorous bladderwort (Utricularia gibba) at 82 Mb (although it still encodes 28,500 genes){{Cite journal |last1=Ibarra-Laclette |first1=Enrique |last2=Lyons |first2=Eric |last3=Hernández-Guzmán |first3=Gustavo |last4=Pérez-Torres |first4=Claudia Anahí |last5=Carretero-Paulet |first5=Lorenzo |last6=Chang |first6=Tien-Hao |last7=Lan |first7=Tianying |last8=Welch |first8=Andreanna J. |last9=Juárez |first9=María Jazmín Abraham |display-authors=3 |date=6 June 2013 |title=Architecture and evolution of a minute plant genome|journal=Nature |volume=498 |issue=7452 |pages=94–98 |doi=10.1038/nature12132 |pmc=4972453 |pmid=23665961 |bibcode=2013Natur.498...94I}} while the largest, from the Norway spruce (Picea abies), extends over 19.6 Gb (encoding about 28,300 genes).{{Cite journal |last1=Nystedt |first1=Björn |last2=Street |first2=Nathaniel R. |last3=Wetterbom |first3=Anna |last4=Zuccolo |first4=Andrea |last5=Lin |first5=Yao-Cheng |last6=Scofield |first6=Douglas G. |last7=Vezzi |first7=Francesco |last8=Delhomme |first8=Nicolas |last9=Giacomello |first9=Stefania |display-authors=3 |date=30 May 2013 |title=The Norway spruce genome sequence and conifer genome evolution |journal=Nature |volume=497 |issue=7451 |pages=579–584 |doi=10.1038/nature12211 |pmid=23698360 |bibcode=2013Natur.497..579N|doi-access=free |hdl=1854/LU-4110028 |hdl-access=free }}

{{further|Biogeography}}

File:Vegetation.pngs. Those named here include tundra, taiga, temperate broadleaf forest, temperate steppe, subtropical rainforest, Mediterranean vegetation, monsoon forest, arid desert, xeric shrubland, dry steppe, semiarid desert, grass savanna, tree savanna, subtropical and tropical dry forest, tropical rainforest, alpine tundra, and montane forests. Shown in gray is "ice sheet and polar desert" devoid of plants.]]

Plants are distributed almost worldwide. While they inhabit many biomes which can be divided into a multitude of ecoregions,{{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=David M. |last2=Dinerstein |first2=Eric |last3=Wikramanayake |first3=Eric D. |last4=Burgess |first4=Neil D. |last5=Powell |first5=George V. N. |last6=Underwood |first6=Emma C. |last7=D'amico |first7=Jennifer A. |last8=Itoua |first8=Illanga |last9=Strand |first9=Holly E. |last10=Morrison |first10=John C. |last11=Loucks |first11=Colby J. |last12=Allnutt |first12=Thomas F. |last13=Ricketts |first13=Taylor H. |last14=Kura |first14=Yumiko |last15=Lamoreux |first15=John F. |last16=Wettengel |first16=Wesley W. |last17=Hedao |first17=Prashant |last18=Kassem |first18=Kenneth R. |display-authors=3 |title=Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth |journal=BioScience |volume=51 |issue=11 |year=2001 |doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:teotwa]2.0.co;2 |page=933|s2cid=26844434 |doi-access=free }} only the hardy plants of the Antarctic flora, consisting of algae, mosses, liverworts, lichens, and just two flowering plants, have adapted to the prevailing conditions on that southern continent.{{cite book |last1=Schulze |first1=Ernst-Detlef |last2=Beck |first2=Erwin |last3=Buchmann |first3=Nina |last4=Clemens |first4=Stephan |last5=Müller-Hohenstein |first5=Klaus |last6=Scherer-Lorenzen |first6=Michael |title=Plant Ecology |chapter=Spatial Distribution of Plants and Plant Communities |publisher=Springer |date=3 May 2018 |isbn=978-3-662-56231-4 |doi=10.1007/978-3-662-56233-8_18 |pages=657–688 }}

Plants are often the dominant physical and structural component of the habitats where they occur. Many of the Earth's biomes are named for the type of vegetation because plants are the dominant organisms in those biomes, such as grassland, savanna, and tropical rainforest.{{cite web |title=The Five Major Types of Biomes |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/five-major-types-biomes/ |publisher=National Geographic Education |access-date=7 March 2023}}

{{further|Autotroph}}

The photosynthesis conducted by land plants and algae is the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all ecosystems. Photosynthesis, at first by cyanobacteria and later by photosynthetic eukaryotes, radically changed the composition of the early Earth's anoxic atmosphere, which as a result is now 21% oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively rare anaerobic environments. Plants are the primary producers in most terrestrial ecosystems and form the basis of the food web in those ecosystems.{{cite journal |last=Gough |first=C. M. |year=2011 |title=Terrestrial Primary Production: Fuel for Life |journal=Nature Education Knowledge |volume=3 |issue=10 |page=28}} Plants form about 80% of the world biomass at about {{convert|450|Gt}} of carbon.{{cite journal |last1=Bar-On |first1=Y. M. |last2=Phillips |first2=R. |last3=Milo |first3=R. |title=The biomass distribution on Earth |journal=PNAS |volume=115 |issue=25 |pages=6506–6511 |date=June 2018 |pmid=29784790 |pmc=6016768 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1711842115 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.6506B |url=https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/05/15/1711842115.full.pdf |doi-access=free |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221154508/https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2018/05/15/1711842115.full.pdf |url-status=live }}

{{main|Plant ecology}}

Numerous animals have coevolved with plants; flowering plants have evolved pollination syndromes, suites of flower traits that favour their reproduction. Many, including insect and bird partners, are pollinators, visiting flowers and accidentally transferring pollen in exchange for food in the form of pollen or nectar.{{cite journal |last=Lunau |first=Klaus |title=Adaptive radiation and coevolution — pollination biology case studies |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |date=2004 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=207–224 |doi=10.1016/j.ode.2004.02.002 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2004ODivE...4..207L }}

Many animals disperse seeds that are adapted for such dispersal. Various mechanisms of dispersal have evolved. Some fruits offer nutritious outer layers attractive to animals, while the seeds are adapted to survive the passage through the animal's gut; others have hooks that enable them to attach to a mammal's fur.{{cite book |last1=Schaefer |first1=H. Martin |last2=Ruxton |first2=Graeme D. |author2-link=Graeme Ruxton |title=Plant-Animal Communication |chapter=Animals as seed dispersers |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2011-04-07 |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199563609.003.0003 |pages=48–67|isbn=978-0-19-956360-9 }}

Myrmecophytes are plants that have coevolved with ants. The plant provides a home, and sometimes food, for the ants. In exchange, the ants defend the plant from herbivores and sometimes competing plants. Ant wastes serve as organic fertilizer.{{cite book |last1=Speight |first1=Martin R. |last2=Hunter |first2=Mark D. |last3=Watt |first3=Allan D. |title=Ecology of Insects |year=2008 |edition=2nd |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-3114-8 |pages=212–216 }}

The majority of plant species have fungi associated with their root systems in a mutualistic symbiosis known as mycorrhiza. The fungi help the plants gain water and mineral nutrients from the soil, while the plant gives the fungi carbohydrates manufactured in photosynthesis.{{cite web |last=Deacon |first=Jim |title=The Microbial World: Mycorrhizas |url=http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/microbes/mycorrh.htm |website=bio.ed.ac.uk (archived) |access-date=11 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180427082137/http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/microbes/mycorrh.htm |archive-date=2018-04-27 |url-status=dead }}

Some plants serve as homes for endophytic fungi that protect the plant from herbivores by producing toxins. The fungal endophyte Neotyphodium coenophialum in tall fescue grass has pest status in the American cattle industry.{{cite journal|last1=Lyons |first1=P. C. |last2=Plattner |first2=R. D. |last3=Bacon |first3=C. W. |year=1986|title=Occurrence of peptide and clavine ergot alkaloids in tall fescue grass |journal=Science |volume=232 |pages=487–489 |pmid=3008328 |doi=10.1126/science.3008328 |issue=4749|bibcode=1986Sci...232..487L }}

Many legumes have Rhizobium nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodules of their roots, which fix nitrogen from the air for the plant to use; in return, the plants supply sugars to the bacteria.{{Cite book |last=Fullick |first=Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5j1ys2uLQYC&pg=PA48 |title=Feeding Relationships |date=2006 |publisher=Heinemann-Raintree Library |isbn=978-1-4034-7521-3 |language=en}} Nitrogen fixed in this way can become available to other plants, and is important in agriculture; for example, farmers may grow a crop rotation of a legume such as beans, followed by a cereal such as wheat, to provide cash crops with a reduced input of nitrogen fertilizer.{{cite web |last=Wagner |first=Stephen |date=2011 |title=Biological Nitrogen Fixation |url=https://www.nature.com/ |website=Nature Education Knowledge |access-date=6 November 2017 |archive-date=17 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317210753/https://www.nature.com/ |url-status=live}}

Some 1% of plants are parasitic. They range from the semi-parasitic mistletoe that merely takes some nutrients from its host, but still has photosynthetic leaves, to the fully-parasitic broomrape and toothwort that acquire all their nutrients through connections to the roots of other plants, and so have no chlorophyll. Full parasites can be extremely harmful to their plant hosts.{{cite journal |last1=Kokla |first1=Anna |last2=Melnyk |first2=Charles W. |date=2018 |title=Developing a thief: Haustoria formation in parasitic plants |journal=Developmental Biology |volume=442 |issue=1 |pages=53–59 |doi=10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.06.013 |pmid=29935146 |s2cid=49394142 |doi-access=free }}

Plants that grow on other plants, usually trees, without parasitizing them, are called epiphytes. These may support diverse arboreal ecosystems. Some may indirectly harm their host plant, such as by intercepting light. Hemiepiphytes like the strangler fig begin as epiphytes, but eventually set their own roots and overpower and kill their host. Many orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and mosses grow as epiphytes.{{cite book |last=Zotz |first=Gerhard |title=Plants on Plants: the biology of vascular epiphytes |publication-place=Cham, Switzerland |publisher=Springer International |date=2016 |isbn=978-3-319-81847-4 |oclc=959553277 |pages=1–12 (Introduction); 267–272 (Epilogue: The Epiphyte Syndrome)}} Among the epiphytes, the bromeliads accumulate water in their leaf axils; these water-filled cavities can support complex aquatic food webs.{{cite web |last=Frank |first=Howard |url=https://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/frank/bromeliadbiota/bromfit.htm |title=Bromeliad Phytotelmata |website=University of Florida |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820084326/https://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/frank/bromeliadbiota/bromfit.htm |archive-date=20 August 2009 |date=October 2000 }}

Some 630 species of plants are carnivorous, such as the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and sundew (Drosera species). They trap small animals and digest them to obtain mineral nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus.{{cite book |last1=Ellison |first1=Aaron |last2=Adamec |first2=Lubomir |title=Carnivorous Plants: Physiology, Ecology, and Evolution |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1988-3372-7 |pages=3–4 |edition=First |chapter=Introduction: What is a carnivorous plant?}}

File:Honey Bee gathering pollen image by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN4801 (13) (cropped).jpg|Bee gathering pollen (orange pollen basket on its leg)

File:Purple-throated carib hummingbird feeding (cropped).jpg|Hummingbird visiting a flower for nectar

File:Epizoochory - dog with hooked Geum fruits in his fur (detail).jpg|Seed dispersal by animals: many hooked Geum urbanum fruits attached to a dog's fur

File:Robinia pseudoacacia root nodules.JPG|Legumes have root nodules containing symbiotic Rhizobium nitrogen fixing bacteria.

File:Drosera capensis bend.JPG|A sundew leaf with sticky hairs curling to trap and digest a fly

Competition for shared resources reduces a plant's growth.{{Cite journal |title=Competition in Plant Communities |last1=Keddy |first1=Paul A. |last2=Cahill |first2=James |journal=Oxford Bibliographies Online |year=2012 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0009.xml |access-date=2021-02-16 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199830060-0009 |isbn=978-0-19-983006-0 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126003436/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0009.xml |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Pocheville |first=Arnaud |title=Handbook of Evolutionary Thinking in the Sciences |chapter=The Ecological Niche: History and Recent Controversies |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/6188833 |date=January 2015 |pages=547–586 |doi=10.1007/978-94-017-9014-7_26 |isbn=978-94-017-9013-0 |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115183211/https://www.academia.edu/6188833 |url-status=live}} Shared resources include sunlight, water and nutrients. Light is a critical resource because it is necessary for photosynthesis. Plants use their leaves to shade other plants from sunlight and grow quickly to maximize their own expose. Water too is essential for photosynthesis; roots compete to maximize water uptake from soil.{{Cite journal |last1=Casper |first1=Brenda B. |last2=Jackson |first2=Robert B. |title=Plant Competition Underground |date=November 1997 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.28.1.545 |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=545–570 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.28.1.545 |bibcode=1997AnRES..28..545C |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525175642/https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.28.1.545 |url-status=live}} Some plants have deep roots that are able to locate water stored deep underground, and others have shallower roots that are capable of extending longer distances to collect recent rainwater.

Minerals are important for plant growth and development.{{Cite journal |last1=Craine |first1=Joseph M. |last2=Dybzinski |first2=Ray |date=2013 |title=Mechanisms of plant competition for nutrients, water and light |journal=Functional Ecology |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=833–840 |doi=10.1111/1365-2435.12081 |bibcode=2013FuEco..27..833C |s2cid=83776710 |doi-access=free }} Common nutrients competed for amongst plants include nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.{{Cite journal |last1=Oborny |first1=Beáta |last2=Kun |first2=Ádám |last3=Czárán |first3=Tamás |last4=Bokros |first4=Szilárd |date=2000 |title=The Effect of Clonal Integration on Plant Competition for Mosaic Habitat Space |url=https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/0012-9658%282000%29081%5B3291%3ATEOCIO%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |journal=Ecology |volume=81 |issue=12 |pages=3291–3304 |doi=10.1890/0012-9658(2000)081[3291:TEOCIO]2.0.CO;2 |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418122432/https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/0012-9658%282000%29081%5B3291%3ATEOCIO%5D2.0.CO%3B2 |url-status=live}}

{{main|Plants in culture}}

{{anchor|Production}}

{{main|Agriculture}}

File:Harvest Time - geograph.org.uk - 747095.jpgs with a combine harvester ]]

Human cultivation of plants is the core of agriculture, which in turn has played a key role in the history of world civilizations.{{Cite book |last=Wrench |first=Jason S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtg672jRCfAC&pg=RA1-PA9 |title=Workplace Communication for the 21st Century: Tools and Strategies that Impact the Bottom Line [2 volumes]: Tools and Strategies That Impact the Bottom Line |date=9 January 2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-3133-9632-8}} Humans depend on flowering plants for food, either directly or as feed in animal husbandry. More broadly, agriculture includes agronomy for arable crops, horticulture for vegetables and fruit, and forestry, including both flowering plants and conifers, for timber.{{cite book |author=Agricultural Research Service |title=Report on the Agricultural Experiment Stations |date=1903 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wiVGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA429}}{{cite web |title=The Development of Agriculture |url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |work=National Geographic |access-date=1 October 2017 |year=2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414142437/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/development-of-agriculture/ |archive-date=14 April 2016}} About 7,000 species of plant have been used for food, though most of today's food is derived from only 30 species. The major staples include cereals such as rice and wheat, starchy roots and tubers such as cassava and potato, and legumes such as peas and beans. Vegetable oils such as olive oil and palm oil provide lipids, while fruit and vegetables contribute vitamins and minerals to the diet.{{cite web |title=Food and drink |url=https://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/food-drink |publisher=Kew Gardens |access-date=1 October 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328124344/https://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/food-drink |archive-date=28 March 2014}} Coffee, tea, and chocolate are major crops whose caffeine-containing products serve as mild stimulants.{{citation |last=Hopper |first=Stephen D. |chapter=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |title=Encyclopedia of Life Sciences |publisher=Wiley |date=2015 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0024933 |pages=1–9 |isbn=9780470015902 }} The study of plant uses by people is called economic botany or ethnobotany.{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wS-DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA644 |chapter=Ethnobotany |title=Economic Botany: A Comprehensive Study |last=Kochhar |first=S. L. |date=31 May 2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-3166-7539-7 |page=644 }}

{{main|Medicinal plants}}

File:Folio Materia Medica Dioscurides Met 13.152.6 (cropped).jpg, from an Arabic Dioscorides, 1224]]

Medicinal plants are a primary source of organic compounds, both for their medicinal and physiological effects, and for the industrial synthesis of a vast array of organic chemicals.{{cite web|title=Chemicals from Plants|publisher=Cambridge University Botanic Garden|url=https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/Botanic/Trail.aspx?p=27&ix=11|access-date=9 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209152153/https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/Botanic/Trail.aspx?p=27&ix=11|archive-date=9 December 2017|url-status=dead}} The details of each plant and the chemicals it yields are described in the linked subpages. Many hundreds of medicines, as well as narcotics, are derived from plants, both traditional medicines used in herbalism{{cite journal |last1=Tapsell |first1=L. C. |last2=Hemphill |first2=I. |last3=Cobiac |first3=L. |title=Health benefits of herbs and spices: the past, the present, the future |journal=Medical Journal of Australia |volume=185 |issue=4 Supplement |pages=S4–24 |date=August 2006 |doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00548.x |pmid=17022438 |s2cid=9769230 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2450&context=hbspapers |access-date=24 August 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031172039/https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2450&context=hbspapers |url-status=live |hdl=2440/22802 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Lai |first1=P. K. |last2=Roy |first2=J. |title=Antimicrobial and chemopreventive properties of herbs and spices |journal=Current Medicinal Chemistry |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=1451–1460 |date=June 2004 |pmid=15180577 |doi=10.2174/0929867043365107 }} and chemical substances purified from plants or first identified in them, sometimes by ethnobotanical search, and then synthesised for use in modern medicine. Modern medicines derived from plants include aspirin, taxol, morphine, quinine, reserpine, colchicine, digitalis and vincristine. Plants used in herbalism include ginkgo, echinacea, feverfew, and Saint John's wort. The pharmacopoeia of Dioscorides, {{Lang|la|De materia medica}}, describing some 600 medicinal plants, was written between 50 and 70 CE and remained in use in Europe and the Middle East until around 1600 CE; it was the precursor of all modern pharmacopoeias.{{cite web |url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_dioscorides.html |title=Greek Medicine |publisher=National Institutes of Health, USA |date=16 September 2002 |access-date=22 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109193334/https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_dioscorides.html |archive-date=9 November 2013 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Hefferon |first=Kathleen |title=Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2012 |page=46 |isbn=978-0-1998-7398-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iORoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |access-date=9 December 2017 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801030407/https://books.google.com/books?id=iORoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last=Rooney |first=Anne|author-link=Anne Rooney |title=The Story of Medicine |publisher=Arcturus Publishing |date=2009 |page=143 |isbn=978-1-8485-8039-8 |access-date=9 December 2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBMEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801030419/https://books.google.com/books?id=jBMEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143 |url-status=live }}

{{main |Non-food crop}}

File:Timber DonnellyMills2005 SeanMcClean.jpg in storage for later processing at a sawmill ]]

Plants grown as industrial crops are the source of a wide range of products used in manufacturing.{{cite web |title=Industrial Crop Production |url=https://www.sustainabletable.org/804/industrial-crop-production |publisher=Grace Communications Foundation |access-date=20 June 2016 |year=2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610195055/https://www.sustainabletable.org/804/industrial-crop-production |archive-date=10 June 2016 |url-status=live }} Nonfood products include essential oils, natural dyes, pigments, waxes, resins, tannins, alkaloids, amber and cork. Products derived from plants include soaps, shampoos, perfumes, cosmetics, paint, varnish, turpentine, rubber, latex, lubricants, linoleum, plastics, inks, and gums. Renewable fuels from plants include firewood, peat and other biofuels.{{cite web |title=Industrial Crops and Products An International Journal |url=https://www.elsevier.com/journals/industrial-crops-and-products/0926-6690?generatepdf=true |publisher=Elsevier |access-date=2016-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002022039/https://www.elsevier.com/journals/industrial-crops-and-products/0926-6690?generatepdf=true |archive-date=2 October 2017 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Cruz |first1=Von Mark V. |last2=Dierig |first2=David A. |title=Industrial Crops: Breeding for BioEnergy and Bioproducts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIFxBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |year=2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4939-1447-0 |pages=9 and passim |access-date=1 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422142944/https://books.google.com/books?id=iIFxBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |archive-date=22 April 2017 |url-status=live }} The fossil fuels coal, petroleum and natural gas are derived from the remains of aquatic organisms including phytoplankton in geological time.{{cite book |last=Sato |first=Motoaki|chapter=Thermochemistry of the formation of fossil fuels |title=Fluid-Mineral Interactions: A Tribute to H. P. Eugster, Special Publication No. 2 |date=1990 |url=https://www.geochemsoc.org/files/6214/1261/1770/SP-2_271-284_Sato.pdf |publisher=The Geochemical Society |access-date=1 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920172448/https://www.geochemsoc.org/files/6214/1261/1770/SP-2_271-284_Sato.pdf |archive-date=20 September 2015 |url-status=live }} Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history. Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen, a source of natural gas.{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJ4SnHbb-ZcC&q=fossil+fuels+depleted+much+faster+than+renewal&pg=PA11 |title=Environmental Science: Problems, Connections and Solutions |last2=Spoolman |first2=Scott |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-495-38337-6 |access-date=14 April 2018}}{{cite book |last=Ahuja |first=Satinder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHKDBAAAQBAJ&q=fossil+fuels+depleted+much+faster+than+renewal&pg=PA278 |title=Food, Energy, and Water: The Chemistry Connection |publisher=Elsevier |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-12-800374-9 |access-date=14 April 2018 }}

Structural resources and fibres from plants are used to construct dwellings and to manufacture clothing. Wood is used for buildings, boats, and furniture, and for smaller items such as musical instruments and sports equipment. Wood is pulped to make paper and cardboard.{{cite book |title=Handbook of pulp |volume=1 |editor1-last=Sixta |editor1-first=Herbert |year=2006 |publisher=Wiley-VCH |location=Winheim, Germany |isbn=978-3-527-30997-9 |page=9}} Cloth is often made from cotton, flax, ramie or synthetic fibres such as rayon, derived from plant cellulose. Thread used to sew cloth likewise comes in large part from cotton.{{cite web |title=Natural fibres |url=https://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/ |website=Discover Natural Fibres |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720093749/https://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/ |archive-date=20 July 2016 |url-status=dead }}

{{main|Ornamental plant}}

File:Rose espalier Niedernhall.JPG at Niedernhall in Germany]]

Thousands of plant species are cultivated for their beauty and to provide shade, modify temperatures, reduce wind, abate noise, provide privacy, and reduce soil erosion. Plants are the basis of a multibillion-dollar per year tourism industry, which includes travel to historic gardens, national parks, rainforests, forests with colourful autumn leaves, and festivals such as Japan's{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoja00dani |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoja00dani/page/12 12] |title=Introduction to Japanese culture |first=Daniel |last=Sosnoski |publisher=Tuttle |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8048-2056-1 |access-date=13 December 2017 }} and America's cherry blossom festivals.{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314055554/https://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/about/history/ |archive-date=14 March 2016 |url=https://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/about/history/ |title=History of the Cherry Blossom Trees and Festival |website=National Cherry Blossom Festival: About |publisher=National Cherry Blossom Festival |access-date=22 March 2016}}

Plants may be grown indoors as houseplants, or in specialized buildings such as greenhouses. Plants such as Venus flytrap, sensitive plant and resurrection plant are sold as novelties. Art forms specializing in the arrangement of cut or living plant include bonsai, ikebana, and the arrangement of cut or dried flowers. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, as in tulipomania.{{cite web |last=Lambert |first=Tim |title=A Brief History of Gardening |url=https://www.localhistories.org/gardening.html |publisher=BBC |access-date=21 June 2016 |year=2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609094015/https://www.localhistories.org/gardening.html |archive-date=9 June 2016 |url-status=live}}

File:Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) shown in her laboratory in 1947.jpg used maize to study inheritance of traits.]]

{{further|Botany|Model organism}}

The traditional study of plants is the science of botany.{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Matthew G. |title=Introduction to Botany |url=https://www.environmentalscience.org/botany |website=Environmental Science |access-date=6 June 2023}} Basic biological research has often used plants as its model organisms. In genetics, the breeding of pea plants allowed Gregor Mendel to derive the basic laws governing inheritance,{{cite web |title=Mendel's Paper in English |url=https://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html |first=Roger B. |last=Blumberg |access-date=9 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113051202/https://www.mendelweb.org/Mendel.html |archive-date=13 January 2016 |url-status=live }} and examination of chromosomes in maize allowed Barbara McClintock to demonstrate their connection to inherited traits.{{cite web |title=Barbara McClintock: A Brief Biographical Sketch |url=https://library.cshl.edu/archives/archives/bmcbio.htm |publisher=WebCite |access-date=21 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927171607/http://library.cshl.edu/archives/archives/bmcbio.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011}} The plant Arabidopsis thaliana is used in laboratories as a model organism to understand how genes control the growth and development of plant structures.{{cite web |title=About Arabidopsis |url=https://www.arabidopsis.org/portals/education/aboutarabidopsis.jsp |publisher=TAIR |access-date=21 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022211543/https://www.arabidopsis.org/portals/education/aboutarabidopsis.jsp |archive-date=22 October 2016 |url-status=live }} Tree rings provide a method of dating in archeology, and a record of past climates.{{cite web |last=Bauer |first=Bruce |website=Climate.gov |url=https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/how-tree-rings-tell-time-and-climate-history |title=How Tree Rings Tell Time and Climate History |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812140430/https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/how-tree-rings-tell-time-and-climate-history |archive-date=12 August 2021 |date=29 November 2018}} The study of plant fossils, or Paleobotany, provides information about the evolutions of plants, paleogeographical reconstructions, and past climate change. Plant fossils can also help determine the age of rocks.{{Cite book |last1=Cleal |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Thomas |first2=Barry A. |title=Introduction to Plant Fossils |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2019 |pages=13 |isbn=978-1-1084-8344-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDGdDwAAQBAJ&q=plant+fossils }}

{{further|Human uses of plants#In mythology and religion}}

Plants including trees appear in mythology, religion, and literature.{{cite web |last1=Leitten |first1=Rebecca Rose |title=Plant Myths and Legends |url=https://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/conservatory/cpage3.html |publisher=Cornell University Liberty Hyde Bailey Conservatory |access-date=20 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807024903/https://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/conservatory/cpage3.html |archive-date=7 August 2016 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Seven of the most sacred plants in the world |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1G40z4B6Ydmh8dSqFQSW1pQ/seven-of-the-most-sacred-plants-in-the-world |access-date=12 October 2020 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920012754/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1G40z4B6Ydmh8dSqFQSW1pQ/seven-of-the-most-sacred-plants-in-the-world |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |title=Literary Plants |journal=Nature Plants |date=3 November 2015 |volume=1 |issue=11 |page=15181 |doi=10.1038/nplants.2015.181 |pmid=27251545 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2015NatPl...115181. }} In multiple Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions, the world tree motif is depicted as a colossal tree growing on the earth, supporting the heavens, and with its roots reaching into the underworld. It may also appear as a cosmic tree or an eagle and serpent tree.{{cite journal |last1=Annus |first1=Amar |title=Review Article. The Folk-Tales of Iraq and the Literary Traditions of Ancient Mesopotamia |journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions |date=2009 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=87–99 |doi=10.1163/156921209X449170 }}{{cite journal |last=Wittkower |first=Rudolf |title=Eagle and Serpent. A Study in the Migration of Symbols |journal=Journal of the Warburg Institute |volume=2 |issue=4 |year=1939 |pages=293–325 |doi=10.2307/750041 |jstor=750041|s2cid=195042671 }} Forms of the world tree include the archetypal tree of life, which is in turn connected to the Eurasian concept of the sacred tree.{{cite book |last=Giovino |first=Mariana |year=2007 |title=The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History of Interpretations |page=129 |publisher=Saint-Paul |isbn=978-3-7278-1602-4}} Another widespread ancient motif, found for example in Iran, has a tree of life flanked by a pair of confronted animals.{{cite web |title=Textile with Birds and Horned Quadrupeds Flanking a Tree of Life |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451090 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=21 August 2023}}

Flowers are often used as memorials, gifts and to mark special occasions such as births, deaths, weddings and holidays. Flower arrangements may be used to send hidden messages.{{Cite book |last1=Fogden |first1=Michael |last2=Fogden |first2=Patricia |title=The Natural History of Flowers |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-6234-9644-9 |page=1}} Plants and especially flowers form the subjects of many paintings.{{cite web |title=Botanical Imagery in European Painting |date=August 2007 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bota/hd_bota.htm |access-date=19 June 2016}}{{cite news |last=Raymond |first=Francine |title=Why botanical art is still blooming today |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/9924556/Why-botanical-art-is-still-blooming-today.html |access-date=19 June 2016 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=12 March 2013}}

File:Texas invasive Musk Thistle 1.jpg is an invasive species in Texas.]]

Weeds are commercially or aesthetically undesirable plants growing in managed environments such as in agriculture and gardens.{{cite journal |last1=Harlan |first1=J. R. |last2=deWet |first2=J. M. |year=1965 |title=Some thoughts about weeds |journal=Economic Botany |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=16–24 |doi=10.1007/BF02971181 |bibcode=1965EcBot..19...16H |s2cid=28399160 }} People have spread many plants beyond their native ranges; some of these plants have become invasive, damaging existing ecosystems by displacing native species, and sometimes becoming serious weeds of cultivation.{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Mark A. |last2=Thompson |first2=Ken |year=2000 |title=Eight Ways to be a Colonizer; Two Ways to be an Invader: A Proposed Nomenclature Scheme for Invasion Ecology |journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America |volume=81 |number=3 |pages=226–230 |publisher=Ecological Society of America}}

Some plants that produce windblown pollen, including grasses, invoke allergic reactions in people who suffer from hay fever.{{cite web |title=Cause of Environmental Allergies |url=http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/environmental-allergies/Pages/cause.aspx |website=NIAID |access-date=June 17, 2015 |date=April 22, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617124141/http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/environmental-allergies/Pages/cause.aspx |archive-date=June 17, 2015}} Many plants produce toxins to protect themselves from herbivores. Major classes of plant toxins include alkaloids, terpenoids, and phenolics.{{Cite web |url=http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/botf99/herbnew/aprodbc.htm |title=Biochemical defenses: secondary metabolites |access-date=2007-05-21 |work=Plant Defense Systems & Medicinal Botany |archive-date=2007-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703145234/http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/botf99/herbnew/aprodbc.htm }} These can be harmful to humans and livestock by ingestion{{Cite book |last=Bevan-Jones |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KOmAwAAQBAJ |title=Poisonous Plants: A Cultural and Social History |date=2009-08-01 |publisher=Windgather Press |isbn=978-1-909686-22-9 }}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gasZYoM22bkC |title=Livestock-Poisoning Plants of California |publisher=UCANR Publications |isbn=978-1-60107-674-8 }} or, as with poison ivy, by contact.{{Cite book |last=Crosby |first=Donald G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9gJCAAAQBAJ |title=The Poisoned Weed: Plants Toxic to Skin |date=2004-04-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-028870-9 |language=en}} Some plants have negative effects on other plants, preventing seedling growth or the growth of nearby plants by releasing allopathic chemicals.{{Cite book |last=Grodzinskii |first=A. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlA4DwAAQBAJ |title=Allelopathy in the Life of Plants and their Communities |date=2016-03-01 |publisher=Scientific Publishers |isbn=978-93-86102-04-1}}

{{Portal||Environment|Plants|Trees|Water}}

• Aquatic plant
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• Ecological succession
• Foodscaping
• Natural environment
• Perennial
• Phytoremediation
• Plant identification
• Plant perception (physiology)
• Terrarium
• World Environment Day

{{reflist}}

General:

• Evans, L.T. (1998). Feeding the Ten Billion – Plants and Population Growth. Cambridge University Press.{{ISBN|0-521-64685-5}}.
• Kenrick, Paul; Crane, Peter R. (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. {{ISBN|1-56098-730-8}}.
• Raven, Peter H.; Evert, Ray F.; Eichhorn, Susan E. (2005). Biology of Plants (7th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. {{ISBN|0-7167-1007-2}}.
• Taylor, Thomas N.; Taylor, Edith L. (1993). The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. {{ISBN|0-13-651589-4}}.

Species estimates and counts:

• International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (2004). IUCN Red List [https://www.iucnredlist.org/ The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species].
• {{cite journal |author= Prance, G. T. |year=2001 |title= Discovering the Plant World |journal=Taxon |volume= 50 |issue= 2, Golden Jubilee Part 4 |pages= 345–359 |doi=10.2307/1223885 |jstor=1223885 |bibcode=2001Taxon..50..345P |ref=none}}

{{Wikibooks|Dichotomous Key|Plantae}}

• [https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/INA.html Index Nominum Algarum]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210225113/https://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/phylogeny/cronq88.html Interactive Cronquist classification]. Archived 10 February 2006.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100611054707/https://www.prota.org/uk/about+prota/ Plant Resources of Tropical Africa]. Archived 11 June 2010.
• [https://tolweb.org/Green_plants Tree of Life]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309093200/http://tolweb.org/Green_plants |date=9 March 2022 }}.

;Botanical and vegetation databases

• [https://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php?langue=an African Plants Initiative database]
• [https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/databases/ Australia]
• [https://www.chilebosque.cl/ Chilean plants at Chilebosque]
• [https://www.efloras.org/index.aspx e-Floras (Flora of China, Flora of North America and others)]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219200600/http://www.efloras.org/index.aspx |date=19 February 2022 }}.
• [https://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html Flora Europaea]
• [https://www.floraweb.de/ Flora of Central Europe] {{in lang|de}}
• [https://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=1 Flora of North America]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220219202016/http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=1 |date=19 February 2022 }}.
• [https://www.alpine-plants-jp.com/botanical_name/list_of_japanese_wild_plants_abelia_buxus.htm List of Japanese Wild Plants Online]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316094850/http://www.alpine-plants-jp.com/botanical_name/list_of_japanese_wild_plants_abelia_buxus.htm |date=16 March 2022 }}.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070616151737/https://ntbg.org/plants/choose_a_plant.php Meet the Plants-National Tropical Botanical Garden]. Archived 16 June 2007.
• [https://www.wildflower.org/ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – Native Plant Information Network at University of Texas, Austin]
• [https://plants.usda.gov/ United States Department of Agriculture] not limited to continental US species.

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