Blog

True. If you put brown bananas next to green ones, and some other fruits, it will cause them to ripen quicker. This is because ripe bananas release a plant hormone called ethylene, which kick-starts the ripening process. But this only happens for “climacteric” fruits, which keep ripening after they are picked. Other climacteric fruits include melons, avocadoes and apples.

Plants can’t move away from predators that might eat them, so one of the ways they defend themselves is by making poisons called phytotoxins. Phytotoxins can be stored in the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. So, eating any part of the deadly nightshade, hemlock, castor bean and oleander plants can be fatal to people.

The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), sometimes known as a California redwood. These trees are found along the coast of California and Oregon in the United States. The tallest one is named Hyperion after the titan from Greek mythology and is between 600 and 800 years old.

True. As of 2025, there were 437,645 vascular plants on The World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Vascular plants have two types of tubes called xylem, which transport water upward from the roots, and phloem, which transport sugars and other things. Other non-vascular plants, like algae and moss, aren’t included in the checklist. And we’re always discovering new plant species. So, there are probably many more!

The branch of biology that studies plants is called botany, so a scientist who works in the field of botany is called a botanist. Botanists might focus on a specific area of plants, like discovering new ones, or studying their structure, and developing new plants for farming.