People are plants? Fun Facts and Similarities Between Plants and Humans!

Science is now discovering that humans are in fact more similar to plants than anyone had ever previously imagined possible. Learn how –

   1.  Plants and humans have a common ancestor. If you back long enough, you will reach a point in time and evolutionary history, where animals and plants didn't exist as we know them today, but they were something else. Actually, we, as animals, are more related to fungi than we are to plants. So, the group animal-fungi connects with the group plants. The fungi-animal group connect with plants around 1.6k millions of years ago, almost at the beginning of the tree. A little time before the group of fungi-animal-plants branched from the archaea group, which split a little time before from the bacteria group.

 2.  Humans share a high percentage of DNA with bananas – we also share 85 percent DNA with a mouse and 61 percent with a fruit fly. But with bananas, we share about 50 percent of our genes, which turns out to be only about 1 percent of our DNA. Humans likely share about 1 percent of their DNA with other fruits as well. "This is because all life that exists on earth has evolved from a single cell that originated about 1.6 billion years ago. In a sense, we are all relatives!"

3.     Plants and humans reproduce. They produce new plants and animals to replace themselves before they die. In trees, sex exists beyond the binary of female and male. Some, such as cedar, mulberry, and ash trees, are dioecious, meaning each plant is distinctly female or male. Others, such as oak, pine, and fig trees are monoecious, meaning they have male and female flowers on the same plant. It’s easy to identify female trees or parts—they’re the ones with seeds. And yet more, such as hazelnut and apple trees, produce “perfect” flowers that contain male and female parts within a single blossom.

4.    Just like humans, plants prefer to be near their children rather than plants of the same species who are not related to them. When plants share their pots, they get competitive and start growing more roots, which allows them to grab water and mineral nutrients before their neighbours get them. It appears, though, that they only do this when sharing a pot with unrelated plants; when they share a pot with family they don't increase their root growth.

   5.   Let's start with the basic structure of any living organism - the genome. The genome is a living thing's complete set of genetic information which it passes on to its children. The human genome is similar to that of  other animals and also to plant genomes. Both the human genome and plant genomes contain around 25,000 genes.

 6.   Inside the cells, we find that human cells and plant cells contain six identical organelles or active components  which include cell membranes, mitochondria and the nucleus. The presence of mitochondria means that both plants and humans have cellular respiration.

7.      Both humans and plants have highly developed immune systems. Plants have a similar response to bacterial infections to humans.

8.    The way humans and plants absorb food is similar. The human intestine and fertile soil both contain bacteria and fungi which help them to be healthy by killing harmful bacteria and breaking down substances to provide food. In the case of plants, bacteria and fungi help plants absorb nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. In the case of humans, they produce vitamins K and B7.

9.    Both have vascular tissues that serve a similar function: to carry necessary blood or nutrients throughout the organism. In humans, these tissues include blood vessels; in plants they are seen in barks and stems.

10.   A symbiotic relationship exists between trees and humans.  Humans breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, while trees breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. 

11.  Plants can't survive without animals or humans. Because, Reproduction is essential for the continuation of that species i.e for its survival. For that pollination is a must and should factor. 95% of the plants depend on zoophily for pollination (pollination by animals).

12.  Trees Have Feelings, Make Friends And Look After Each Other Like An Old Couple. Trees like to stand close together and cuddle. They love company. They can feel pain, [and] have emotions, such as fear.

13.   When injured, plants can cry for help via a chemical phone call to the roots. If under attack by a pathogen, such as disease-causing bacteria, a plant's leaf can send out an S.O.S. to the roots for help, and the roots will then secrete an acid that brings beneficial bacteria to the rescue

14.   Plants have exceptional abilities to respond to sunlight, gravity, wind, and even tiny insect bites, but (thankfully) their evolutionary successes and failures have not been shaped by suffering, just simple life and death.

15.   Plants have visual capabilities we just do not understand yet. For instance, as reported in 2014 in Current Biology, the climbing wood vine Boquila trifoliolata can modify its leaves to mimic the colors and shapes of its host plant. Although the evidence for eyelike structures in higher plants remains limited, it is growing.

16.  Biologists believe that trees speak a language we can learn. They speak constantly, even if quietly, communicating above- and underground using sound, scents, signals, and vibes. In fact, the relationships between trees and other lifeforms are reflected in Waorani language. throughout literary and musical history there are references to the songs of trees, and the way they speak: whispering pines, falling branches, crackling leaves, the steady hum buzzing through the forest. Human artists have always known on a fundamental level that trees talk, even if they don’t quite say they have a “language.”

17.   Japanese “forest medicine” is the science of using nature to heal yourself—wherever you are. Trees really do have healing powers. For one thing, they release antimicrobial essential oils, called phytoncides, that protect trees from germs and have a host of health benefits for people. The oils boost mood and immune system function; reduce blood pressure, heart rate, stress, anxiety, and confusion; improve sleep and creativity; and may even help fight cancer and depression.