Dicots begin their lives as seeds nourished by two seed leaves (cotyledons). The leaves provide nutrients to the developing seed until it grows its first real leaves that can make food by photosynthesizing. Most flowering plants are dicots, which includes many of the foods humans enjoy: grapes, squash, soybeans, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, etc. You can tell a dicot by its characteristic branching leaf veins. Not only do dicots feed us, they also cloth us; cotton, linen, and hemp are dicots. Because dicots and conifers are the only plants able to form wood, they are central to our building industry. Wood is extra plant tissue for transporting water and nutrients (vascular tissue). It forms when cells specialized for growth (meristems) continue to divide. The result is that the tree grows, adding to its width and height. Maples, oaks, and hickories, all sources of wood, are dicots.

In plants, the evolution of special systems to transport fluids through their bodies (vascular systems) was a successful innovation that allowed them to conquer the land. Vascular systems allowed plants to grow large and colonize a wide range of habitats from the artic to deserts and rainforests. Today, most plants we see are vascular, with cells organized into tissues specialized for transporting nutrients and fluids. These vascular tissues include xylem, which takes water and nutrients from roots to the rest of the plant. Working xylem cells are dead, just hollow tubes bounded by cell walls. Another important tissue, phloem, takes sugars (made by photosynthesis) from the leaves to the rest of the plant. Vascular plants also have advanced systems for other functions, such as support, protection, and photosynthesis. For example, leaves are a thin but complex sandwich consisting of upper layer that secretes protective wax, middle layer packed with photosynthesizing cells, and lower layer with pores (stomata) for exchanging gases.

Without plants, we could not survive and there would not be much diversity of life on Earth, just some tiny bacteria, algae, fungi, and tiny ocean organisms. Because of their ability to make their own food, plants are at the base of nearly every ecosystem food web. The secret of success for plants is a light-absorbing molecule (a pigment) called chlorophyll that captures the energy of sunlight by electron movements. This energy is used to make sugars from carbon dioxide and water. The leaves of plants are powerhouses for sugar manufacturing, packed with cells that contain chlorophyll. Plants uptake carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and they release oxygen as a “waste” product, thereby supplying our atmospheric oxygen. Plants are essential for keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere that would otherwise contribute to global warming. In addition plants are directly or indirectly provide the food we eat.

While most animals move around during some part of their life cycle, plants are stationary. Their roots are typically underground, anchoring the plant to one spot. An organism that lives in one spot must find ways to meet its needs, such as for food and reproduction, without moving around. Plants are able to make their own food (by photosynthesis), as long as they have sunlight and water. Roots usually take care of the water need, extending downward to tap underground sources. As for light, having many leaves increases the surface area exposed to the sun. Plants also can capture more light by growing towards it either by getting taller or bending. Plants have evolved many ways to reproduce and spread without moving: natural cloning through vegetative shoots; attraction of pollinators to unite pollen with eggs; and seeds that are adapted for dispersal by wind, water, or animals.