Plants

The second largest kingdom of living things after animals is the plants. The key feature of a plant which sets it apart from other living things is that it obtains energy by the...

Photosynthesis

A plant obtains its energy by a process known as photosynthesis—a word meaning “making with light”. It takes in sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air. Water and nutrients...

Plant cells

Plant cells are the basic unit of life in plants. Like animal cells, they contain both a nucleus and specialized structures called organelles which carry out different functions...

Flowers and pollen

A plant’s flower is the reproductive part of a plant. Here the plant makes seeds which grow into new plants. A typical flowering plant has both male and female parts contained in...

Fruits and seeds

After male pollen grains have been carried to the female parts of a flower, the male and female cells join and begin to develop into the baby plant. The flower parts are no longer...

Plants A-Z

Trees

A tree is a large plant with a woody stem or trunk, covered with a protective layer of bark. There are two main groups of trees: the broadleaves and the conifers. Trees are a...

Trees A-Z

Fungi

Mushrooms, toadstools, brackets, yeasts, moulds and mildews are not plants, but fungi. They form one of the great groups, or kingdoms, of living things. Fungi cannot make their own...

Why is grass green?

Grass is a kind of plant, and the blades of grass that make up a lawn or a meadow are the leaves of grass plants growing closely together. They are often cut short by a lawnmower...