Plant Cuttings

To those who’ve ploughed through the preceding draft 10 chapters, there’s very little new in this post. Essentially, it tries to summarise what’s already been written at length in the various chapters. Nevertheless, putting those 10 separate posts in one place hopefully has some value for you.

What have these 10 chapters shown us about plants? Why should we celebrate them?

Chapter 1 revealed the tremendous diversity of form, etc. amongst the members of the Plant Kingdom, the so-called ‘land plants’. Which diversity is increased further if we rightly include the green algae and extend it to other photosynthetic autotrophs such as diatoms and the cyanobacteria.

That chapter also makes the point that plants are often stronger when working in association with other organisms in cross-Kingdom partnerships. Of those co-operations, arguably, none is more important than mycorrhiza, which plant-fungus mutual symbiosis may well have been instrumental in facilitating the development of the planet’s land flora in the first place. And once established, much of the landscape we have on Earth today is due in no small way to plants – in their more generic guise of vegetation – and, importantly, of Mankind’s relationship with it.

Chapter 2 looked in some detail at photosynthesis, probably the defining characteristic of plants (in the widest sense of the word as used in this book). But, rather than focus on the food production side of the photosynthetic equation, this chapter looked more closely at the by-product it produces, oxygen. In doing so this chapter demonstrated the power of oxygenic photosynthesis to create the conditions on Earth that greatly facilitated the evolution of animals. In so doing, it emphasises the great debt that is owed by the majority of life forms to plants and their photosynthetic endeavours via primary productivity. That chapter also considered ways in which photosynthesis might be ‘improved’ to meet the needs of an expanding human population (and provides a nod in the direction of Chapter 7a).

Chapter 3 revealed the remarkable economy of design and structure that plants embody. Yet, minimalist as it is, it is sufficient to produce the tallest living structures on the planet, and diverse enough to provide for many of Man’s material needs via cell types such as fibres. Botanical ingenuity is also a major source of inspiration for solutions to human design problems with the increasingly important field of biomimetics. And, demonstrating that there is more to discover about plant structures and what they do, the author’s own investigation into the structure-and-function of the membranous ligule of grasses is presented.

Chapter 4 emphasised the relative simplicity of the fundamental ‘ingredients’ – minerals from the soil, light and heat from the sun, oxygen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and water – that are needed to sustain plant life (even if a few liberties were taken with modern-day interpretations of the ancient, Classical, notion of the four elements). This chapter is also a testament to the remarkable adaptability of plants not only to survive, but also to do extraordinarily well, in those environments where there is either an insufficiency or an excess of one or other, or all, of those four basic ingredients.

Chapter 5 explored some of the plant parallels with the five main human senses, and found remarkable similarity [Ed – although it barely touched upon the ways in which plants have exploited the human senses or those of other animals in ways that get those life forms to work on behalf of the plants!]. Plants are masters of the sedentary lifestyle and expert at being in-tune with their environment. Plants are sensitive; they have versions of all five of our own senses. Plants are like us, but different.

Chapter 6 aired the notion of plant intelligence (though – probably wisely – said little further on the subject). But, and at least, it posited the idea that there is more to plants than that which the human eye at first sight may perceive; maybe – as Michael Pollan (2003) argues – plants do ‘control’ us after all?

Chapters 7, whilst taking liberties with song lyrics – developed some of the ideas introduced in Chapter 2 and Chapter 7a considered the fundamental role of plants in feeding humans and their livestock. It also considered some of the challenges we all face in terms of food security in the immediate future and discussed some aspects of the human role in achieving this – which is likely to stretch all of our economic, infrastructure, sustainability, biotechnological, etc. know-how and imagination to overcome, and which is also crucially dependent upon appropriate international co-operation.

Harking back to songs, Chapter 7b considered some of the ways that plants have found their way into humankind’s more artistic endeavours, such as poetry, art, and literature. Plants aren’t just food for the stomach, they can nourish the human soul as well.

And, talking of different kinds of nourishment form plants, Chapter 8 was a nod in the direction of plants to provide us with a variety of leisure opportunities and the opportunity to enrich our lives – whether we be ill, in need of ‘rehabilitation’, or just want a bit of space (as long as it’s green..?).

Chapter 9 dealt with some of the most fundamental reasons to celebrate plants, the incredible range of so-called secondary products they make. These compounds have given us many of our modern-day medicines drugs and continues to represent – and present – a vast unexplored medicine chest. That extraordinary diversity of compounds was showcased with three examples, curare, hoodia, and quinine.

Chapter 10 explored some of the darkest episodes in human history and plumbed the depths of Man’s seemingly endless capacity for inhumanity to his fellows as it concentrated on the spice trade and slavery. However, although those deeds were inspired by plants, it is not the plant’s fault that human greed and folly led to such outrages and crimes against humanity. But human lust for various plant products has led to modern-day issues such as the shrinking Aral Sea, obesity and diabetes, and cancer from smoking tobacco.

If we could instead concentrate on the more positive aspects, such as the power of the quest for spices to open up the world and make it just that little bit smaller so that all citizens can ultimately have lives that are more enriched as a result, then some good may have come out of all of this unpleasantness. But we must not forget that our relationship with plants can be a double-edged sword, we must be on our guard not to cut ourselves too often or too deeply.

Epilogue

Yes, plants do make us happy, clothe us, and feed us. But they do so much more besides, and ‘plantness’ permeates every aspect of our daily lives, our history and indeed the history of most organisms on the planet. Plants have made, and continue to make, the Earth what it is today, and, if managed correctly, will help to look after our species for a long time to come. However, if we want to remain happy, clothed and fed we need the people to study plants and the research environment in which that can take place. That requires that we reach out to two constituencies, which are distinct but overlap to some extent.

First, much of the funding for that plant research will comes from the taxes of those who benefit from the work but are not directly involved in its execution – the public. Since plant sciences in the broadest meaning of the term has to compete for funds with other equally deserving causes, the better educated the public (and that include decision-makers in government) is in plant matters, the more likely they should be to fund such work. Whilst plant research can contribute greatly to human health (Cathie Martin et al., 2011) and it is likely that it can boost the health-promoting properties of phytochemicals (Maria Traka & Richard Mithen, 2011), we must ensure that message gets across to those who hold the purse strings and those who ultimately contribute the money that goes into the public purse.

Second, as David Ehrhardt & Wolf Frommer (2012) state; “Plants are one of the most fascinating and important groups of organisms living on Earth. They serve as the conduit of energy into the biosphere, provide food, and shape our environment. If we want to make headway in understanding how these essential organisms function and build the foundation for a more sustainable future, then we need to apply the most advanced technologies available to the study of plant life”. True, but to capitalise upon those technological opportunities we need the people to undertake that study. One way to try and encourage more students to study plants is to impress upon them how important plants are. As those who study plants it is incumbent upon us to support plant science education (David Hershey, 1989) as much as we can. How can we expect others to appreciate plants if they are not made aware of their importance? Hopefully this book will play its own small part in raising that botanical awareness.

There’s much to celebrate in plants; it’s about time we put the ‘plant’ back into planet!