Interesting facts about plants

November 19, 2009 | In: Nature Facts

Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.

84% of a raw apple and 96% of a raw cucumber is water.

Asparagus is a member of the lily family, which also includes onions, leeks, and garlic.

Rice paper isn’t made from rice but from a small tree which grows in Taiwan.

The largest single flower is the Rafflesia or “corpse flower”. They are generally 3 feet in diameter with the record being 42 inches.

One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen.

Plants reverse their respiration at night because at that time they are releasing energy instead of storing it!

During the day, leaf cells use sunlight’s energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar. This process releases oxygen, which diffuses out through small pores. At night, the same cells release energy by using oxygen to turn sugar back into water and carbon dioxide.

The small pores are called “stomata”. Each stoma allows air and water vapor to move freely throughout the leaf, and can close if the leaf needs to conserve water during dry times.