Botanical tour: How plants have evolved to live on Earth

We totally rely on plants for our survival, not just for all our food, but a livable planet, and a breathable atmosphere itself.

Did you know that more than 400,000 different plants are found all around Earth, on both land and in the water?

Unlike us, where we can move into the shade and take a cooling drink, or put a coat on if we are cold, plants are rooted in just one place. How do they cope with growing in some of the harshest and most difficult places imaginable, such as deserts, the arctic, mountain tops, rain forests, or as here in Finland, where for half the year they have to battle with frozen soils, and heavy snow, or for the other half of the year, the blazing sun and often a lack of water.

Yet they seem to thrive and reproduce successfully. How do they do it?

Did you know that most plants have easily identifiable adaptations to Earth’s varied environments? Did you know also that besides coping with Earth’s widely changing climates, plants have found ingenious ways to attract insects, birds, bats and mammals to pollinate their flowers and transport their seeds, so they have successful offspring. Did you know that our pine tree needles have an amazing ability to condense water from the air, so the trees can lose heat, and much needed water can trickle down to their roots through the summer.

Hear some of these remarkable stories of the life of plants from your botanical guide David Stokes. Learn and identify how some of your favourite plants have evolved to survive and thrive on our precious green and blue planet.