Outline

Plants are essential to human life

• Plants produce many medicines as well as the food and oxygen on which organisms depend.

Plants, directly or indirectly, provide all the food we eat.

• Perspective 1.1 Coffee: Even If You Don't Know Beans Perspective
• Perspective 1.2 Breakfast at the Sanitarium: The Story of Breakfast Cereals
• Agriculture provided a secure source of food for our early ancestors.

The plant kingdom is nature's medicine cabinet.

• Clues to possible medicines come from interactions between plants and animals.
• Perspective 1.3 Nature's Medicine Cabinet
• The study of economically important plants includes investigation of their ecology and evolution.

What is a plant?

• Plants share many characteristics with other organisms.
• A plant is an autotrophic organism with a unique set of characteristics, including cell walls made of   cellulose.

A seed develops into a plant having roots, stems, and leaves.

• Monocots and dicots have different kinds of seeds.
• Roots anchor plants, store energy, and absorb and conduct water and minerals.
• The root system may extend deeply into the soil.
• Shoots consist of stems and leaves.
• Leaves are the main sites of photosynthesis.

What is botany?

• Observing and asking questions are the first steps in studying a problem.
• We all think like scientists at times.
• Biologists use a scientific method of investigation to answer questions about life.
• Biotechnology is an active area of scientific research as well as an industry that will affect your life.