Crash Course Botany

the world of plants may seem quiet and calm but you don't need to go much farther than your front door to find drama afoot like that sweet summery scent of freshly cut grass it's actually the plant equivalent of a scream through chemicals grass is sounding a warning call to nearby plants which start putting up their defensive Dukes getting ready to protect themselves from damage and plants are smart they can tell the difference between mechanical damage like that lawn mower and being chomped by an insect if bugs are attacking plants can release special chemicals that yell to other bugs nearby please come eat whatever is eating me so your quiet Summer Afternoon has just turned into a plant action movie complete with elaborate fight sequences we humans think we're such a big deal but if you squished up every living thing on the planet into one big ball eighty percent of it would be plants and less than one percent would be mammals some folks say we're missing the forest for the trees but we're also missing the trees and the ferns and the mosses and the palms and the sedges there's a whole other world here and it's all around us you see plants aren't just a bunch of Wallflowers you just weren't a part of their group chat yet that's all about to change and they have so much dirt to dish out hi I'm Alexis and this is Crash Course botany [Music] botany is the scientific study of plants that includes the huge ones like towering 300 foot tall coastal redwood trees and the tiny ones like wolfia globosa green Globs the size of a candy sprinkle it includes the tasty plants like sweet corn and mangoes super stinky plants like the corpse flower and the super stinky and tasty plants like the durian there are plants that look like brains plants that look like rocks even plants that look like democorgons botany is all about this Kaleidoscope of plant life it's the science of plant structure and their function the way their parts work and how their genetic traits pass on but it's also about plants relationship to other living things including us and it's no overstatement to say our lives and the lives of every other creature on our Earth depend on plants probably heard of photosynthesis the chemical process that plants use to turn water sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy for them to live on well the oxygen that comes out of that process is a byproduct or something that's made by the nature of the process not on purpose and that incidental byproduct just happens to be the thing we evolve to breathe which when you stop to think about it it's pretty amazing plants also cycle water and nutrients that all living things need between the soil and the atmosphere and Back Again even a single tree can be an all-in-one bed and breakfast for dozens of organisms like a fully Alive combination Airbnb and Taco Bell in fact once you start noticing how deep this plants are connected to everything business goes it's hard to stop plants are not just in your garden or your bathtub or the woods behind your house there are nearly everything let's head to the thought bubble from the moment you wake up you're already in touch with plants because you spent all night wrapped up in sheets made of cotton fibers stumble into the shower and plants are there too you grab a loofah which is actually a dried out tropical gourd give yourself a scrub and you come out smelling like a rose because the oils in your soap came from roses your toothpaste contains cellulose gum the same stuff that plants cell walls are made of and it's spiced with a little flavor from a mint plant your floss Glides against your gums with the help of Carnauba wax which comes from palm tree leaves and when you spot oh a little volcano erupting on your chin you dab on some acne medication it'll work its magic thanks to oil from the Australian tea tree you're running late by now but there's still time to get some breakfast the kitchen smells like freshly brewed coffee made from Beans of the kaffia plant and you grab some avocado toast a combo of wheat grown to be pest resistant spread with the insides of a big green buttery Berry Triple Threat that you are you grab your baseball bat made from a maple tree your clarinet made from an African Blackwood tree and your lines for the play printed on paper from a pine tree and don't forget to dodge falling acorns on the way out this is a plant's world you're just living in it thanks thought bubble for most of humans time on Earth we gathered plants from the wild see a berry eat a berry find some tubers share them with your friends but around 10 000 years ago some of us struck up a deal with plants hey we'll stash your seeds and help you grow on purpose in return give us food we don't have to wander for this alliance with plants was a history bending Society shaping big deal it changed how people related to food and to each other turning some people into farmers and some plants into crops which in the case of teosinte's transformation into corn was a major makeover we call it the Neolithic Revolution agriculture turned small mobile groups of people into big permanent settlements where more food was grown supporting more people soon those people started splitting up work so only some people were in charge of growing food while others became shopkeepers restaurant tours and YouTubers and over time this allowed human populations to grow dramatically eventually thanks to the powers of Agriculture and transportation combined people could choose to live in cities or rural areas because Foods could be predictably produced and moved to people instead of people moving to them so agriculture is a big part of the plant and people story but there are lots of other ways we've used plants as medicines and poisons in our clothes and shelter and The Big Field of Botany is shaped by diverse ways of relating to and knowing plants like all over the world indigenous peoples have passed on generational knowledge of plants local to them for example The hadatsa Gardener mahiriwia also known as Buffalo bird woman helped record her tribe's ways of growing corn squash beans and sunflowers in the early 1900s using practices gardeners still follow today botany has also been shaped by the knowledge of enslaved people throughout history like Edmund albius in the 1840s when albius was only 12 years old and enslaved on the island of reunion he invented a way of pollinating vanilla plants by hand making it possible to grow them profitably albius was freed a few years later when slavery was abolished on the island to this day vanilla Growers still use this techniques people like mahitiwiya and albius had a secret weapon in their Arsenal close observation and knowledge of plants and anyone can develop it in the form of Botanical literacy that's information that helps you read the language of the Plant World and understand the science surrounding it like remember when I said plants use sunlight for photosynthesis well the leaves of living Stone plants found mostly in hot dry areas of Africa act like Fiber Optic Cables they bring sunlight underground so that the plant can perform photosynthesis where it's cooler or another thing speaking the language of plants lets you in on some orchids can produce b-shaped flowers which fake bees out so that they'll pollinate what they think are potential mates with Botanical literacy you can also give an appropriate amount of side eye to a package of Himalayan salt that's labeled not genetically modified genetically modified organisms or GMOs are living things with genes that have been altered in ways that don't happen in nature like scientists have created insect resistant GMO crops by giving them genes from soil bacteria genes they wouldn't be able to obtain just by breeding with other plants so but non-GMO salt label doesn't make sense because salt is a literal not a plant or an animal and it has no genes to modify to begin with we'll be getting more into GMOs in a later episode the point is botany is about much more than knowing your begonias from your bougainvilleas although that part can be fun too but if you've never really noticed plants before you're not alone do plants just fade into the background for you because they're mostly green do you tend to lump their features together into a solid wall of color are you like other humans drawn to things that move and look like you well you might just have plant awareness disparity and the Cure is watching crash course spot me so yeah plants are like the elephant in the room even that phrase doesn't reference plants can can we coin a new version when something's like right in front of you but no one's talking about it let's call it the bamboo in the room the Tomato in the room the the giant Redwood in the room because when we don't take heed of the bustling community of shoots Vines and leaves around us we allow sneaky false assumptions to take root instead we start to think things like plants don't do anything or humans are running this show but if you've ever broken out in welts from brushing against poison ivy or seen a telephone pole swallowed up by a kudzu Vine well you know plants do things and we're not as in control as we think the truth is plants do perceive and react to the world around them just not in the ways people do they have their own ways of communicating and sensing information which bought me can help us tune into and understand like plants can't move when a threat is around but they can share information about incoming danger when a plant isn't getting enough to drink for example tiny openings on its leaves called stomata start to close up to conserve water signals about their stress State can pass to any neighboring plants that touch Roots so those plants know to prepare for Drought by closing their stomata too botanists only recently learned and are still learning about how Roots allow plant communication to happen just beyond our perception so if you haven't thought much about plants yet there's still time they're waiting for you and possibly gossiping about you to find out you need to get in the group chat it can be easy not to pay plants much notice in everyday life but you're connected to them all the same without playing chance you wouldn't just not have hot cocoa or chalupas you wouldn't be alive none of us would be and there's much to be gained by turning your attention to plants plants shelter us clothe us medicate us feed us and oxygenate us structured our civilizations around them and they in turn make life possible for us and other organisms by studying plants we can understand forces that shape our lives and tune into the quiet communication that's happening all around us let's start learning some of plants secrets hey before we go let's Branch out chewing gum was first invented using chickle a substance that comes from what kind of tree if you head down to the comments ASAP I'm sure you'll find the answer thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course botany which was filmed at the dimir farisa witch studio and made in partnership with PBS digital Studios and nature if you want to help keep crash course free for everyone forever you can join our community on patreon [Music]

the world of plants may seem quiet and calm but you don&#39;t need to go much farther than your front door to find drama afoot like that sweet summery scent of freshly cut grass it&#39;s actually the plant equivalent of a scream through chemicals grass is sounding a warning call to nearby plants which start putting up their defensive Dukes getting ready to protect themselves from damage and plants are smart they can tell the difference between mechanical damage like that lawn mower and being chomped by an insect if bugs are attacking plants can release special chemicals that yell to other bugs nearby please come eat whatever is eating me so your quiet Summer Afternoon has just turned into a plant action movie complete with elaborate fight sequences we humans think we&#39;re such a big deal but if you squished up every living thing on the planet into one big ball eighty percent of it would be plants and less than one percent would be mammals some folks say we&#39;re missing the forest for the trees but we&#39;re also missing the trees and the ferns and the mosses and the palms and the sedges there&#39;s a whole other world here and it&#39;s all around us you see plants aren&#39;t just a bunch of Wallflowers you just weren&#39;t a part of their group chat yet that&#39;s all about to change and they have so much dirt to dish out hi I&#39;m Alexis and this is Crash Course botany [Music] botany is the scientific study of plants that includes the huge ones like towering 300 foot tall coastal redwood trees and the tiny ones like wolfia globosa green Globs the size of a candy sprinkle it includes the tasty plants like sweet corn and mangoes super stinky plants like the corpse flower and the super stinky and tasty plants like the durian there are plants that look like brains plants that look like rocks even plants that look like democorgons botany is all about this Kaleidoscope of plant life it&#39;s the science of plant structure and their function the way their parts work and how their genetic traits pass on but it&#39;s also about plants relationship to other living things including us and it&#39;s no overstatement to say our lives and the lives of every other creature on our Earth depend on plants probably heard of photosynthesis the chemical process that plants use to turn water sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy for them to live on well the oxygen that comes out of that process is a byproduct or something that&#39;s made by the nature of the process not on purpose and that incidental byproduct just happens to be the thing we evolve to breathe which when you stop to think about it it&#39;s pretty amazing plants also cycle water and nutrients that all living things need between the soil and the atmosphere and Back Again even a single tree can be an all-in-one bed and breakfast for dozens of organisms like a fully Alive combination Airbnb and Taco Bell in fact once you start noticing how deep this plants are connected to everything business goes it&#39;s hard to stop plants are not just in your garden or your bathtub or the woods behind your house there are nearly everything let&#39;s head to the thought bubble from the moment you wake up you&#39;re already in touch with plants because you spent all night wrapped up in sheets made of cotton fibers stumble into the shower and plants are there too you grab a loofah which is actually a dried out tropical gourd give yourself a scrub and you come out smelling like a rose because the oils in your soap came from roses your toothpaste contains cellulose gum the same stuff that plants cell walls are made of and it&#39;s spiced with a little flavor from a mint plant your floss Glides against your gums with the help of Carnauba wax which comes from palm tree leaves and when you spot oh a little volcano erupting on your chin you dab on some acne medication it&#39;ll work its magic thanks to oil from the Australian tea tree you&#39;re running late by now but there&#39;s still time to get some breakfast the kitchen smells like freshly brewed coffee made from Beans of the kaffia plant and you grab some avocado toast a combo of wheat grown to be pest resistant spread with the insides of a big green buttery Berry Triple Threat that you are you grab your baseball bat made from a maple tree your clarinet made from an African Blackwood tree and your lines for the play printed on paper from a pine tree and don&#39;t forget to dodge falling acorns on the way out this is a plant&#39;s world you&#39;re just living in it thanks thought bubble for most of humans time on Earth we gathered plants from the wild see a berry eat a berry find some tubers share them with your friends but around 10 000 years ago some of us struck up a deal with plants hey we&#39;ll stash your seeds and help you grow on purpose in return give us food we don&#39;t have to wander for this alliance with plants was a history bending Society shaping big deal it changed how people related to food and to each other turning some people into farmers and some plants into crops which in the case of teosinte&#39;s transformation into corn was a major makeover we call it the Neolithic Revolution agriculture turned small mobile groups of people into big permanent settlements where more food was grown supporting more people soon those people started splitting up work so only some people were in charge of growing food while others became shopkeepers restaurant tours and YouTubers and over time this allowed human populations to grow dramatically eventually thanks to the powers of Agriculture and transportation combined people could choose to live in cities or rural areas because Foods could be predictably produced and moved to people instead of people moving to them so agriculture is a big part of the plant and people story but there are lots of other ways we&#39;ve used plants as medicines and poisons in our clothes and shelter and The Big Field of Botany is shaped by diverse ways of relating to and knowing plants like all over the world indigenous peoples have passed on generational knowledge of plants local to them for example The hadatsa Gardener mahiriwia also known as Buffalo bird woman helped record her tribe&#39;s ways of growing corn squash beans and sunflowers in the early 1900s using practices gardeners still follow today botany has also been shaped by the knowledge of enslaved people throughout history like Edmund albius in the 1840s when albius was only 12 years old and enslaved on the island of reunion he invented a way of pollinating vanilla plants by hand making it possible to grow them profitably albius was freed a few years later when slavery was abolished on the island to this day vanilla Growers still use this techniques people like mahitiwiya and albius had a secret weapon in their Arsenal close observation and knowledge of plants and anyone can develop it in the form of Botanical literacy that&#39;s information that helps you read the language of the Plant World and understand the science surrounding it like remember when I said plants use sunlight for photosynthesis well the leaves of living Stone plants found mostly in hot dry areas of Africa act like Fiber Optic Cables they bring sunlight underground so that the plant can perform photosynthesis where it&#39;s cooler or another thing speaking the language of plants lets you in on some orchids can produce b-shaped flowers which fake bees out so that they&#39;ll pollinate what they think are potential mates with Botanical literacy you can also give an appropriate amount of side eye to a package of Himalayan salt that&#39;s labeled not genetically modified genetically modified organisms or GMOs are living things with genes that have been altered in ways that don&#39;t happen in nature like scientists have created insect resistant GMO crops by giving them genes from soil bacteria genes they wouldn&#39;t be able to obtain just by breeding with other plants so but non-GMO salt label doesn&#39;t make sense because salt is a literal not a plant or an animal and it has no genes to modify to begin with we&#39;ll be getting more into GMOs in a later episode the point is botany is about much more than knowing your begonias from your bougainvilleas although that part can be fun too but if you&#39;ve never really noticed plants before you&#39;re not alone do plants just fade into the background for you because they&#39;re mostly green do you tend to lump their features together into a solid wall of color are you like other humans drawn to things that move and look like you well you might just have plant awareness disparity and the Cure is watching crash course spot me so yeah plants are like the elephant in the room even that phrase doesn&#39;t reference plants can can we coin a new version when something&#39;s like right in front of you but no one&#39;s talking about it let&#39;s call it the bamboo in the room the Tomato in the room the the giant Redwood in the room because when we don&#39;t take heed of the bustling community of shoots Vines and leaves around us we allow sneaky false assumptions to take root instead we start to think things like plants don&#39;t do anything or humans are running this show but if you&#39;ve ever broken out in welts from brushing against poison ivy or seen a telephone pole swallowed up by a kudzu Vine well you know plants do things and we&#39;re not as in control as we think the truth is plants do perceive and react to the world around them just not in the ways people do they have their own ways of communicating and sensing information which bought me can help us tune into and understand like plants can&#39;t move when a threat is around but they can share information about incoming danger when a plant isn&#39;t getting enough to drink for example tiny openings on its leaves called stomata start to close up to conserve water signals about their stress State can pass to any neighboring plants that touch Roots so those plants know to prepare for Drought by closing their stomata too botanists only recently learned and are still learning about how Roots allow plant communication to happen just beyond our perception so if you haven&#39;t thought much about plants yet there&#39;s still time they&#39;re waiting for you and possibly gossiping about you to find out you need to get in the group chat it can be easy not to pay plants much notice in everyday life but you&#39;re connected to them all the same without playing chance you wouldn&#39;t just not have hot cocoa or chalupas you wouldn&#39;t be alive none of us would be and there&#39;s much to be gained by turning your attention to plants plants shelter us clothe us medicate us feed us and oxygenate us structured our civilizations around them and they in turn make life possible for us and other organisms by studying plants we can understand forces that shape our lives and tune into the quiet communication that&#39;s happening all around us let&#39;s start learning some of plants secrets hey before we go let&#39;s Branch out chewing gum was first invented using chickle a substance that comes from what kind of tree if you head down to the comments ASAP I&#39;m sure you&#39;ll find the answer thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course botany which was filmed at the dimir farisa witch studio and made in partnership with PBS digital Studios and nature if you want to help keep crash course free for everyone forever you can join our community on patreon [Music]

Transcript for:Crash Course Botany

Transcript for:
Crash Course Botany