New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plant

A plant is a living organism that belongs to the kingdom Plantae and is characterized by its ability to produce its own food through photosynthesis. Most plants are rooted in soil, have stems and leaves, and contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which captures sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. This process not only sustains the plant itself but also supports life on Earth by generating oxygen and serving as the foundation of most food chains.

Plants come in a wide variety of forms, from tiny mosses and grasses to towering trees and flowering shrubs. They play critical roles in ecosystems by stabilizing soil, regulating water cycles, providing habitats, and storing carbon. Many plants also have reproductive structures such as flowers or cones and produce seeds that enable them to reproduce and spread.

In addition to their ecological importance, plants are essential to human life. They provide food, medicine, fiber, fuel, and raw materials for countless industries. Their beauty and diversity also contribute to cultural and aesthetic value around the world. Understanding and protecting plant life is key to preserving biodiversity and sustaining the health of the planet.

Related Stories
 


Earth & Climate News

March 6, 2026

Ocean temperatures may be quietly protecting the world from a global drought catastrophe. By analyzing more than a century of climate data, researchers discovered that droughts rarely spread across the planet at the same time, affecting only about ...
A sweeping new study of more than 2,000 insect species reveals a troubling reality: many insects may be far less capable of coping with rising temperatures than scientists once hoped. Researchers found that while some species living at higher ...
Northern wildfires may be more dangerous for the climate than they appear. Researchers found that fires in boreal forests can burn deep into peat soils, releasing ancient carbon stored for hundreds ...
Fusion energy may be one of the most promising clean power sources of the future—but only if scientists can precisely measure the extreme, fast-moving plasmas that make it possible. A new U.S. Department of Energy–sponsored report urges major ...
K’gari’s iconic lakes have existed for tens of thousands of years—but they haven’t always been full. New research shows that about 7,500 years ago, during a time of high rainfall, several of ...
Even in the ultra-dry Atacama Desert, tiny soil-dwelling nematodes are thriving in surprising diversity. Scientists found that biodiversity increases with moisture and altitude shapes which species survive. In the most extreme zones, many nematodes ...
A popular climate theory suggested that melting Antarctic glaciers would release iron into the ocean, sparking algae blooms that pull carbon dioxide from the air. New field data from West Antarctica reveal that meltwater provides far less iron than ...
Scientists racing to tackle plastic pollution have created a surprising new contender: a biodegradable packaging film made partly from milk protein. Researchers at Flinders University blended calcium caseinate with starch and natural nanoclay to ...
Antarctica’s Hektoria Glacier stunned scientists by retreating eight kilometers in just two months, with nearly half of it collapsing in record time. The rapid breakup was driven by a flat, underwater bedrock surface that allowed the glacier to ...
A lost cache of 250-million-year-old fossils from Australia has rewritten part of the story of life after Earth’s worst mass extinction. Instead of a single marine amphibian species, researchers ...
Scientists have proposed a surprising connection between solar flares and earthquakes. When solar activity disturbs the ionosphere, it may generate electric fields that penetrate fragile fracture zones in Earth’s crust. If a fault is already ...
Deep in the Congo Basin, vast peatlands quietly store enormous amounts of Earth’s carbon — but new research suggests this ancient vault may be leaking. Scientists studying Africa’s largest ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET