Human uses of plants

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18th dynasty, Thebes, Ancient Egypt

Human uses of plants include both practical uses, such as for

timber and paper as well as a wide range of chemicals. Plants give millions of people pleasure through gardening
.

In art, mythology, religion, literature and film, plants play important roles, symbolising themes such as fertility, growth, purity, and rebirth. In architecture and the decorative arts, plants provide many themes, such as Islamic arabesques and the acanthus forms carved on to classical Corinthian order column capitals.

Context

mythology, philosophy, literature, and science.[1] This article describes the many roles played by plants in human culture.[2]

Practical uses

As food

Main articles: History of agriculture and Agriculture
Harvesting oats

Humans depend on plants for

lipids, while fruit and vegetables contribute vitamins and minerals to the diet.[4]

In industry

Main article:
Industrial crop
Timber

Plants grown as

geological time.[8]

Structural materials and fibres from plants are used to construct dwellings and to manufacture clothing. Wood is used not only for buildings, boats, and furniture, but also for smaller items such as musical instruments, hand tools, and sports equipment. Wood is pulped to make paper and cardboard.[9] Cloth is often made from cotton, flax, ramie or synthetic fibres such as rayon and acetate derived from plant cellulose. Thread used to sew cloth likewise comes in large part from cotton.[10]

Dioscorides
's pharmacopoeia, 1224

Plants are a primary source of basic

chemicals, both for their medicinal and physiological effects, and for the industrial synthesis of a vast array of organic chemicals.[11]

In medicine

Main articles:
Herbalism

Many hundreds of medicines are derived from plants, both traditional medicines used in

De Materia Medica, describing some 600 medicinal plants, was written between 50 and 70 AD and remained in use in Europe and the Middle East until around 1600 AD; it was the precursor of all modern pharmacopoeias.[14][15][16]

For chemicals

psychotropic chemicals.[18] Poisons from plants include atropine, ricin, hemlock and curare, though many of these also have medicinal uses.[19]

In gardening

Main article: Gardening
See also: Garden tourism
The white garden at Sissinghurst

Thousands of plant species are cultivated for aesthetic purposes as well as to provide shade, modify temperatures, reduce wind, abate noise, provide privacy, and prevent soil erosion. Plants are the basis of a multibillion-dollar per year tourism industry, which includes travel to historic gardens, national parks, rainforests, forests with colorful autumn leaves, and festivals such as Japan's[20] and America's cherry blossom festivals.[21]

There are also art forms specializing in the arrangement of cut or living plants, such as bonsai, ikebana, and the arrangement of cut or dried flowers. Ornamental plants have sometimes changed the course of history, as in tulipomania.[22]

In science

Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), a pioneering cytogeneticist who studied the mechanism of inheritance using maize
Further information: Model organism

Basic biological research has often been done with plants. In

life support.[26]

Scientific advances in genetic engineering led to developments in crops. Genetically modified crops introduce new traits to plants which they do not have naturally. These can bring benefits such as a decrease in the use of harmful pesticides, by building in qualities such as insect resistance and herbicide tolerance.[27]

Living structures

living root bridges in Meghalaya
state, India
Further information:
Living root bridges and Hedgelaying

The ability of trees to graft is occasionally exploited by

living root bridges in Meghalaya and Nagaland states in India and on the islands of Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. The aerial roots of rubber fig trees, Ficus elastica, are used to form suspension bridges across mountain streams.[28][29][30][31][32]

Symbolic uses

In art

Further information: Botanical illustration
Botanical illustration of Dimorphorchis lowii by Walter Hood Fitch, 1864

Plants appear in art, either to illustrate their botanical appearance,

anthers signified the radiant light of the soul; accordingly, European portraits of the Virgin's Annunciation may depict a vase of white lilies in her room to indicate her attributes. Plants are also often used as backgrounds or features in portraits, and as main subjects in still lifes.[34][35]

Luxor, Egypt

Architectural designs resembling plants appear in the capitals of

Arts and Crafts movement.[38][39][40]

In literature and film

The 1962 film of John Wyndham's 1951 science fiction novel The Day of the Triffids depicted aggressive and seemingly intelligent plants.
Further information: List of fictional plants

Both real and fictitious plants play a wide variety of roles in

many named kinds of plant, including the healing herb athelas[43] the yellow star-flower elanor which grows in special places such as Cerin Amroth in Lothlórien,[44] and the tall mallorn tree[45] of the elves. Tolkien names several individual trees of significance in the narrative, including the Party Tree in the Shire with its happy associations,[45] and the malevolent Old Man Willow[46] in the Old Forest.[47]
Trees feature in many of
arboreal science fiction writer".[49] James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar features a giant tree named Hometree, the sacred gathering place of the humanoid Na'vi tribe; the interconnected tree, tribe and planet are threatened by mining: the tribe and the film's hero fight to save them.[50] Trees are common subjects in poetry, including Joyce Kilmer's 1913 lyric poem named "Trees".[51][52] Flowers, similarly, are the subjects of many poems by poets such as William Blake, Robert Frost, and Rabindranath Tagore.[53]

In mythology and religion

Further information: Trees in mythology
The Ash Yggdrasil, the World tree of Norse mythology, depicted by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine, 1886

Plants figure prominently in

Austras koks is a tree which grows from the start of the Sun's daily journey across the sky.[56][57] A different cosmic tree is Yggdrasil, the World tree of Norse mythology, on which Odin hung.[58][59] Different again is the barnacle tree, believed in the Middle Ages to have barnacles that opened to reveal geese,[60] a story which may perhaps have started from an observation of goose barnacles growing on driftwood.[61] Greek mythology mentions many plants and flowers,[62] where for example the lotus tree bears a fruit that causes a pleasant drowsiness,[63] while moly is a magic herb mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey with a black root and white blossoms.[64]

The

sacred fig tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment; the name is also given to other Bodhi trees thought to have been propagated from the original tree.[71]

See also

References

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  24. ^ "BARBARA McCLINTOCK:A Brief Biographical Sketch". WebCite. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
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  30. ^ "Living Root Bridges of Nagaland India – Nyahnyu Village Mon District | Guy Shachar". guyshachar.com. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
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