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Plants provide shelter for everything from tiny
insects to large mammals. The flowers, seeds, nuts, and leaves produced by plants are the food sources that allow animals to live in the
forest. Plants also provide humans with many important medicines. For instance, the yew tree, which was once considered "waste wood",
actually contains a substance called taxol, which helps to fight certain types of cancer. Right and left: trees and bushes in a temperate forest. Photos by Maya Walters |
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| Perhaps most importantly, oxygen needed by all animals is produced by the leaves of plants. Leaves are green because a chemical called chlorophyll is found within every one of their cells, and this chemical uses energy from sunlight and substances including carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. |
plants -- page 1 of 5
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sub-topics
[bark, wood, roots, & leaves] [flowers & pollen] [seeds, nuts, & fruit]
related topics
[insects] [mammals] [food & medicine]
view the condensed version of the plants article for faster printing/reading
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