Aspen tree photo or picture
blackberry photo or picture
cactus bloom photo or picture
Sequoia or redwood tree photo or picture
DANGEROUS
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
YOUTH OUTDOORS ORGANIZATIONS
Plant Life for Kids - Plants for Children
Copyright © 2008 Youth Outdoors USA
Youth Outdoors USA would love to have your participation in this website!
Did you know that forest on the right... is only ONE tree?
If you get lost in the woods, would you know how to find things
to eat like the blackberries right below the aspen tree?
In the middle of a desert, you will see incredibly beautiful plant life...
but did you know they are also a source of water? ...and are made into a very tasty candy?
Do you know which plant lives the
longest? How about the largest plant on our planet?
Although wildflowers garner the most attention when it comes to plant
life in the outdoors, there are many wonderful living organisms that are not only important to the life cycle of the earth, but smell
great, taste really good, or are very pleasing to the eye!
Come join us in our exploration of the flora of Planet Earth!
From the beautiful to the gigantic, we will cover it all!
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest (by volume) tree in the world.
The flower with the world's largest bloom is the Rafflesia arnoldii. This rare flower is found in the rainforests of Indonesia. It
can grow to be 3 feet across and weigh up to 15 pounds! It is a parasitic plant, with no visible leaves, roots, or stem. It attaches
itself to a host plant to obtain water and nutrients. When in bloom, the Rafflesia emits a repulsive odor, similar to that of rotting
meat. This odor attracts insects that pollinate the plant.
The cardón cactus (Pachycereus pringlei) is the world's largest cactus. There are about 1200 species of cactus, all of them native
to the Americas. The cardón is nearly endemic to the deserts of the Baja California peninsula. Some of the largest cardones have been
measured at nearly 21 meters (70 feet) high and weigh up to 25 tons. These very slow growing plants are also extremely long-lived,
and many
specimens live well over 300 years. ''Cardo'' means ''thistle'' in Spanish. It is said that when Hernando Cortes attempted
to establish a settlement in Baja in 1535, the many spiny cacti earned it the name ''Isla de Cardón'', because at the time, they believed
the peninsula was an island. In Latin, ''pachy'' means thick and ''cereus'' means waxy. One has only to see
the thick arms of this
pale gray-green, waxy skinned cactus to understand what the traveling American botanist, Cyrus Pringle, meant when he named the species.
What is the largest seed in the World?
You might guess something like pumpkin and avacodo seeds. But the answer is the seed of
the double coconut or coco de mer (Lodoicea maldivica) The seed, which can take up to 10 years to develop, can weigh over 20 kilograms!
While this palm was viewed at Kew Gardens in England (one of the world’s major botanical gardens), it is a native of the Seychelles,
a group of islands in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa.
