some of which also make them flavorful,
healthful, or both. In order to spread their
offspring far and wide, some plants surround
their seeds with tasty and nourishing fruits
that animals carry away and eat, often
spilling some seeds in the process.
So we owe our very existence as oxygen-
breathing, land-dwelling animals to the
greenery we walk through and cultivate and
consume every day of our lives.
Why Plants Aren’t Meaty Land-dwelling
plants that can nourish themselves still need
access to the soil for minerals and trapped
water, to the atmosphere for carbon dioxide
and oxygen, and to the sun for energy. All of
these sources are pretty reliable, and plants
have developed an economical structure that
takes advantage of this reliability. Roots
penetrate the soil to reach stable supplies of
water and minerals; leaves maximize their
surface area to capture sunlight and exchange