WHAT IS THE USEFULNESS OF PLANTS? 4 IMPORTANT POINTS - BIOLOGY - 2025

The usefulness of plants is intrinsically linked to the survival of planet Earth and, in turn, to the life of all beings that inhabit it. Plants provide oxygen from the absorption of carbon dioxide, regulate temperature and humidity, and maintain the health of soils.

In addition, they serve to protect animals and are the base of the food chain since they make their own food from sunlight.

Since prehistoric times, man has learned to select and grow plants for their use and profit. Since then, plants provide different foods and materials that have been very useful for the evolution and improvement of human life on Earth.

From them, in addition to oxygen, medicines are obtained, wood to make furniture, structures, paper, fuels, oils or fabrics.

Main utilities of the plants

They produce oxygen and consume carbon dioxide

The natural phenomenon known as photosynthesis, allows plants to generate oxygen, using carbon dioxide and sunlight as sources. This process is only possible in leaves and stems of green plants and is carried out in organelles called chloroplasts.

These structures contain chlorophyll, which is the green pigment in plants. This is sensitive to light energy and activates the photosynthesis process. When sunlight penetrates the leaves of plants, it initiates a two-phase process: light and dark.

In the first, all actions occur in the presence of light that is captured by chlorophyll allowing photolysis to take place, a reaction in which water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen is released into the environment and hydrogen is used in other actions of the process.

The second phase does not depend directly on sunlight. During this phase, the presence of compounds that are formed or generated in the light phase is necessary, as well as the carbon dioxide that is obtained directly from the environment. This combines with hydrogen and other compounds to form glucose.

Carbon dioxide is essential for life on the planet, although in excessive amounts it can be very harmful.

Breathing returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as a waste product. Plants can reabsorb it in the process of photosynthesis.

In this way, a balance is maintained for the survival of living beings on the planet.

They serve as food for living beings

Plants constitute the base of the food chain as they produce their food, and the rest of living beings feed on them.

A rabbit, for example, eats grass. In turn, a fox eats the rabbit. When the fox dies, the bacteria break down its body, returning it to the soil where it provides nutrients for plants such as grass.

All interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem constitute a food web.

Organisms in food chains are grouped at different levels: producers (autotrophs), consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and predators), and decomposers or detritivores (bacteria and scavengers).

Not all plants are edible. Of the 250,000 species of flowering plants, less than 5,000 are used as food on a regular basis.

Each one has a specific use. The human being has learned to identify the use for each plant. For the human being it is necessary to consume a diet rich in vegetables.

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are obtained from vegetables, all essential for good health.

Some botanical families are well known as they include many edible species: legumes (peas, lentils), rosaceae (apple, pear), nightshade (tomato, potato) and composites (lettuce, sunflower). Of all the most important crops for human consumption, 5 are cereals.

They have medicinal uses

Medicinal plants are those plants that make active principles: substances that exert pharmacological, beneficial or harmful actions on the living organism.

Depending on the type of plant, it can be used as a drug or medicine to alleviate the disease or reduce and / or neutralize the organic imbalance that is the disease.

The active principles of plants define them and serve to classify them. In addition, they provide the plant with its properties and therapeutic uses.

These principles are unevenly divided on the plant. The parts used are called plant drugs. In the leaf are the plant chemical synthesis and it is the most used part because it produces heterosides and most of the alkaloids.

The stem can contain active ingredients, especially in the bark and sapwood. Sometimes it has therapeutic virtues. For example, the sapwood of linden is hypotensive and that of cinchona is antimalarial. The root extracts mineral salts from the soil and accumulates sugars, vitamins and alkaloids.

In the flower, the pollen contains vitamins, the fruits of umbelliferae, achenes, are rich in essences, such as fennel, anise and cumin.

The fleshy fruits contain a large amount of vitamins, organic acids and sugars. Sometimes the drug is secretions from the plant, such as gums and resins.

Among the large number of existing medicinal plants, the following can be mentioned:

• Arnica (Tithonia diversifolia): its branches and leaves are used to treat wounds and pain.
• Purple bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra): its flower is used to treat coughs.
• Cedar (Cedrela odorata): its bark is used in the treatment of cysts and hernias.
• Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides): its leaves are used to deworm.
• Master herb (Artemisia absinthium): its leaves are used to treat pain.
• Noni (Morinda citrifolia): its fruit is used to treat various diseases and strengthen the body.
• Aloe Vera (Aloe vera): its leaves are used to treat wounds and pain.

They have industrial uses

Industrial plants are those that after a collection of the useful part, is subjected to a process to obtain a final product.

In general, they are massively grown. Sometimes only a part of the plant is used: the leaves, the stem, the sap, the seeds, the flowers, the fruit, the bark or the root. Sometimes the whole plant can be used.

Many of these processed products are for human consumption, such as coffee, cocoa or chewing gum. Sugar is obtained mainly from sugar cane or sugar beet after a long process.

The cosmetic industry uses numerous species with fortifying properties for hair such as nettle, anti-wrinkle properties such as quince or regenerative properties such as aloe.

Plants rich in essential oils are also cultivated industrially. Its aromas are highly appreciated in perfumery (lavender, violets, orange, vanilla, cinnamon, jasmine or roses).

With the resin obtained from larch, a glue used in plasters is made. With the resin of some acacia species, gum arabic is made that is used in chewy candies, stamps and envelopes, to give stability to wines, in medicines and even in mummification processes.

Trees and shrubs are used to make wood. Likewise, paper is also extracted from trees such as pines, firs, eucalyptus, birch and poplar.

Sometimes it is another animal species that makes the process of making the product, as in the case of bees that collect nectar from flowers to later make honey.

Some plants have fibers used to make fabrics. The most important textile plant is cotton.

There are also numerous species rich in pigments used as colorants to dye fabrics, ornaments, or ceramics on the body. Some of the most used dye species are:

• Black mulberry - Morus nigra
• Blonde - Rubis tinctorum
• Pomegranate - Punica granatum
• Chestnut - Castanea sativa
• American black walnut - Junglans nigra

References

1. Escamilla, B., Moreno, P., (2015) Medicinal Plants of La Matamba and El Piñonal. Verazcruz, Mexico. INECOL Institute of Ecology. Recovered from: itto.int.
2. Fernandez, I., Bellet, M., García E., (2012) What are plants for? Royal Botanical Garden. Madrid Spain. Recovered from: rbj.csic.es.
3. García, R., Collazo, M., (2006) Photosynthesis Practice Manual. The Science Presses. Mexico. Recovered from: books.google.co.ve.
4. Mark, J., Stryer L., Tymoozko, J., (2017) Biochemistry. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Editorial Reverte
5. Muñoz, F., (2002) Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Madrid Spain. Ediciones Mundi- Press Recovered from: books.google.co.ve.
6. National Geographic Sociaty (sf) Food Chain. National Geographic. Recovered from: nationalgeographic.org.
7. Samsa, F., (sf) Why is Carbon Important to Living Organism? Recovered from: hunker.com.