Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly
photosynthetic. This means that they orts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and
other gymnosperms, and flowering plants). A definition based on genomes includes
the Viridiplantae, along with the red algae and the glaucophytes, in the clade
Archaeplastida.
There are about 380,000 known species of plants, of which the majority, some
260,000, produce seeds. They range in size from single cells to the tallest trees.
Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygebrts,
mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and other gymnosperms, and flowering plants). A
definition based on genomes includes the Viridiplantae, along with the red algae
and the glaucophytes, in the clade Archaeplastida.
There are about 380,000 known species of plants, of which the majority, some
260,000, produce seeds. They range in size from single cells to the tallest trees.
Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxygetain
their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with
cyanobacteria to produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water, using the green
pigment chlorophyll. Exceptions are parasitic plants that have lost the genes for
chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and obtain their energy from other plants or fungi.
Most plants are multicellular, except for some green algae.
Historically, as in Aristotle's biology, the plant kingdom encompassed all living
things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi. Definitions have
narrowed since then; current definitions exclude the fungi and some of the algae.
By the definition used in this article, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (green
plants), which consists of the green algae and the embryophytes or land plants
(hornworts, liverwon; the sugarsrts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, conifers and other
gymnosperms, and flowering plants). A definition based on genomes includes the
Viridiplantae, along with the red algae and the glaucophytes, in the clade
Archaeplastida.
There are about 380,000 known species of plants, of which the majority, some
260,000, produce seeds. They range in size from single cells to the tallest trees.
Green plants provide a substantial proportion of the world's molecular oxyge they
create supply the energy for most of Earth's ecosystems, and other organisms,
including animals, either eat plants directly or rely on organisms which do so.
Grain, fruit, and vegetables are basic human foods and have been domesticated for
millennia. People use plants for many purposes, such as building materials,
ornaments, writing materials, and, in great variety, for medicines. The scientific
study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology.
