The Angiosperms: Our Friends That Link Us to Life

Humans may dominate Earth, but we could not have achieved dominance without some help. Neither our explosive population growth nor our rapid technological advance would have been possible without our 10.000-year old partnership with domesticated animal and plant species. They have been existed on earth longer than many of the lives found. Among domesticated plants, we have shown a special affinity for the angiosperms. Over generations of selective breeding, humans have modified the seeds, stems, roots, flowers, and fruits of favored angiosperms species to provide us with food, medicines, and shelter.

Angiosperms are modern flowering seed plants. They have dominated Earth for more than 100 million years. The group is incredibly diverse, with more than 230.000 species. Angiosperms range in size from the diminutive duckweed to the towering eucalyptus tree. From dessert cactus to grasses to parasitic stinking corpse lilies, angiosperms rule over the plant kingdom. Three major adaptations have contributed to the enormous success of angiosperms; flowers, fruits, and broad leaves. Fertilization occurs when the pollen forms a tube through the stigma, a sticky pollen-catching structure of the flower, and bores into the ovule. There, the zygote develops into an embryo enclosed in a seed formed from the ovule.

Our relationship with the angiosperms, however, seems to be based on something more profound than their ability to help us meet our material needs. Though we appreciate the practical value of wheat and wood, our most emotionally powerful connections with angiosperms are purely sensual. Many of life's pleasures come to us courtesy of our plant partners. We delight in the beauty and fragrance of flowers, and present them to others as symbols of most sublime and inexpressible emotions. Quite a few of us spend hours of our leisure time tending gardens and lawns, for no reward other than the pleasure and satisfaction we derive from observing the fruits of our labor. In our homes, we reserve space not only for members of our families, but also for our houseplants companies. We felt compelled to line our streets with trees, and we seek refuge from the stress of daily life in parks with abundant plant life. Our mornings are enhanced by the aroma of coffee or tea, and our evenings by a nice glass of wine.

Clearly, angiosperms fill our desires as well as our needs. But who do plants get out of the deal? For the species fortunate enough to be accepted as our partners, we provide nutrients, water, and protection from predators, and dispersal around the globe.