![]() (The word cereal comes from Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture.) Major cereal crops include corn (maize), wheat, oats, rice, barley, and rye. In North America the chief food plants are cereal grains. Starches and sugars, the foods that plants make and store for their own growth, are also the fundamental nutrients that humans and other organisms need in order to live. Humankind’s dependence on crops such as wheat and corn (maize) is obvious, but without grass and grain the livestock that provide people with food and other animal products could not survive either. Directly or indirectly, plants provide food, clothing, fuel, shelter, and many other necessities of life. However, botanists-the scientists who study plants-estimate that there are tens of thousands of unidentified species yet to be discovered, especially in less explored ecosystems such as tropical forests. ![]() To date, more than 300,000 plant species have been identified and described. ![]() Many shrubs and cacti thrive in deserts that go without rain for years at a time, and rivers, lakes, and swamps are filled with water plants. Flowers of vivid color and great variety force their way up through the snow on mountainsides. Mosses and tussock grasses grow in Antarctica. On the northernmost coast of Greenland the Arctic poppy peeps out from beneath the ice. Wherever there is sunlight, air, and soil, plants can be found. ![]()
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