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Let's Explore

You may have discovered through conversations with your international classmates that people who live in different places have different lives and different experiences. We all share at least one thing in common, though. No matter what city, state, or country we call home, we use and rely on plants in many different ways everyday. Think about the results of your food survey. What would you eat if you took away all of the foods that come from plants?

Whether in the Himalayan, Andes, or Appalachian Mountains, hundreds of native plants traditionally have provided people with food, medicine, and the materials to make useful products. Let's take a minute to learn a little bit more about them.

What Are Native Plants?
Native plants are plants that still live in the region where they evolved. From one generation to the next, plants change — or evolve — in response to the temperature, soil type, amount of rainfall, and interaction with other species that exists in their region. These changes make them better able to survive in their environment.

Native plants as food Native plants collected from the wild are an important source of food for people around the world. Many people also sell native plants as food in order to make a living. Different parts of these plants-fruits, leaves, flowers, roots, tubers, twigs, bark, and stems-are collected for food. They provide important sources of protein, fat, vitamins, sugars, and minerals.
Native plants as medicine For thousands of years, people around the world have used native plants as medicine. In fact, most of our modern medicines were first made from plants. For example, aspirin came from the bark of the white willow tree. Many people still collect native plants and turn them into teas or other substances to treat their medical needs today.
Native plants as fiber People throughout the world have also used native plants to make cords, rope, baskets, soap, glue, dyes, tannins, candles, pot scrubbers, jewelry, and other items for thousands of years. Many people still depend on these types of products both in their daily lives and as a way to make money.

What's In My Backyard?
Would you believe there are native plants all around you? Its time to find out where…

To do this, you are going to go on a field trip. With the help of a naturalist and a field guide, you are going to collect information about the native plants in your area. A naturalist is someone who knows a lot about the natural world and whose job it is to teach others about how nature works. A field guide is a book that helps people identify things by name, like birds or plants.

Your international classmates are doing exactly the same thing. In order to complete this project, they'll need accurate information from you (and you will need it from them) about your native plants so be thorough, make good observations, and record everything through words, drawings, and photos. Here are some questions to keep in mind while you are collecting data on your plants: ·

What does it look like? Does it look like something I've seen before? How does it feel? How does it smell? Are there others like it nearby? What is the most obvious thing about it? How can I describe where it lives? How would I recognize it again? Is it native to my area?

In addition to what native plants grow in your area, your international classmates need to know how these plants have been or are used for food, medicine, or to make other products. How might you find out this information? Where should you look? Who can you ask?

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