What makes plants important?
The importance of plants to humans and just about all other life on Earth is amazing. Life as we know it would not be possible without plants! Why are plants so important? Plants supply food to nearly all organisms, including humans. We eat either plants or other organisms that eat plants. Plants also create the oxygen we need to breath through a process called photosynthesis. They absorb the bad carbon dioxide in the air and then release the oxygen we and other wildlife need to breath. Plants also provide things such as firewood, timber, fibers, medicines, dyes, pesticides, oils, and rubber that humans use. They also create habitats for many organisms. A single tree can provide food and shelter to many species of insects, worms, small mammals, birds, and reptiles!
Not all plant species are good though. Native plant species are natural to the area they are found in. They are specially adapted to that ecosystem and are fundamental to a healthy and diverse ecosystem. They provide food and shelter for native mammals, birds and insects. Non-native plant species have been brought into an area from somewhere else and then become established. These plants are not always invasive plants, they can actually sometimes be neutral or have a positive effect on an ecosystem. Invasive plant species are a non-native species, meaning they are not from the area they are in, which are likely to cause environmental harm to humans, wildlife, or other native plants health. Invasive species aggressively compete with native species and often kill off or reduce the native plant population hurting the ecosystem.
What can you do to protect the plants within the Bitterroot River riparian corridor? First off, try not to pick flowers or dig up native plants because we need these populations to be as strong as possible to outcompete invasive species. Secondly, after you are done hiking, camping, or doing things outdoors, check all of your gear; shoes, backpacks, clothes, and etc. for seeds caught in your belongings so you don’t accidently spread the seeds of an invasive plant to a new location. Lastly, plant native plants and seeds in your gardens at home because they provide habitat for other native species and can help stop the spread of invasive species!
In the lesson content below, you will learn more about plants, what they do in the ecosystem, native and invasive plants in this area, and why they are important. You will also get to define some very important terms, create a field journal, and then participate in a fun activity! By the end of the lesson you should have lots of knowledge to answer the question above
Vocabulary
Forbs
Forbs are plants that do not get woody stems like trees or shrubs, and they also don’t look like grasses. Forbs have broad leaves and are flowering plants such as sunflowers, daisies, lupine, or prairie coneflowers.
Grasses
Grasses are plants with leaves that usually look like blades. Most of them also have hollow stems and many branching roots.
Shrubs
Shrubs are plants with woody stems that are smaller than trees and have multiple stems.
Trees
Trees are plants that have usually only one woody stem often called a trunk. They get very tall and often have branches coming off of the main woody stem.
Native Plants
Native plant species are natural to the area they are found in. They are specially adapted to that ecosystem and are fundamental to a healthy and diverse ecosystem. They provide food and shelter for native mammals, birds and insects.
Invasive Plants
Invasive plant species are a non-native species, meaning they are not from the area they are in, which are likely to cause environmental harm to humans, wildlife, or other native plants health. Invasive species aggressively compete with native species and often kill off or reduce the native plant population hurting the ecosystem. These are often called weeds.
Non-native Plants
Non-natives plants have been brought into an area from somewhere else and then become established. These plants are not always invasive plants, they can actually sometimes be neutral or have a positive effect on an ecosystem.
Focus Questions
Why are invasive plant species bad?
What benefits do plants provide to ecosystems?
Native Plants ID:
Cottonwood
The bark of cottonwood is often a gray color with deep grooves. They can grow up to 100 feet tall! In June, you might have noticed that the ground is covered in white fuzzy seeds that look like snow. Well, that is all thanks to cottonwoods!
Aspen
Aspen trees are known for their fluttering leaves that move in the slightest breeze. They have beautiful smooth white bark and in the fall their leaves turn a bright yellow color. Animals such as elk and deer love eating aspens! You can find them along streams, wetlands, and cool slopes where the soil is moist.
Oak
Oak trees have thick trunks that are full of grooved bark. They can live for over 100 years and grow to 150 feet high! Their leaves have round and smooth edges and they produce acorns every year that humans and wildlife can eat!
Chokecherry
Chokecherries can be bushes or trees! They grow anywhere from 6 to 50 feet tall. The sour fruits they produce are edible to humans and wildlife! Birds especially love chokecherries. Humans will sometimes make jellies and jams from them!
Prickly Pear Cactus
Prickly pear cactuses are protected by sharp spines but the large pad underneath is tender and edible! In the early summer they produce yellow or pink colored flowers that grow from the top of the pads. These cactuses don’t freeze in the winter because they have special antifreeze chemicals in their cells!
Lupine
Lupine is a flowering plant that belongs to the pea family! They can grow to be 4 feet tall. They have green-gray colored leaves that are covered in soft, silver hairs and have 5 to 28 leaflets on every leaf. The flowers are often a purple or light blue color and grow in dense spikes straight up from the center of the leaves. These plants are poisonous to cows and sheep if they eat them.
Idaho Fescue
Idaho fescue is a small, clumping grass that get up to 14 inches tall! Its leaves and stems are a green-silver color. It is considered a cold season grass. This grass makes up a large part of grazing wildlife and livestock diets.
Willow
Willows are often bushes. You can find them next to river, lakes and streams because they love water! They grow slivery white, furry buds on the ends of their branches in the spring. The bark is gray, brown, and sometimes black colored. The leaves are narrow and green.
Showy Milkweed
Milkweed is a flowering plant that grows from rhizomes and gets about 3 feet tall in the summer. It grows clusters of fragrant, pinkish starry flowers. They are very important for pollinator species like bees and butterflies. They are especially important for Monarch butterflies because that is the plant they lay their eggs on and that the caterpillars eat!
Prairie Coneflower
Prairie coneflowers are a drought-tolerant wildflower. The flower is often bright yellow colored and grows throughout the summer. The middle of the flowers extends upwards into the air above the petals making the flower look like a sombrero!
Bitterroot
The bitterroot is a small flowering herb that grows a big beautiful pink blossom close to the ground. It is also the state flower of Montana! You can find this beautiful flower in late May or early June growing in dry places. They can live for almost a year without water!
Blue Flax
Blue flax is a plant species that pollinators love! It has blue-green needle like leaves and is about 2 feet tall. It grows light blue purplish flowers that last through the summer attracting pollinators. It likes growing in full sun and doesn’t need a lot of water!
Big Bluestem
Big bluestem is a type of prairie grass that can grow to be 10 feet tall! Its stems start at a blueish green in the spring, then by fall they are tan or brown. It is considered a warm season grass. It grows in clumps and is important wildlife and insects.
Invasive Plants ID:
Hounds Tongue
This noxious weed has a thick stem and burgundy-red flowers that later turn into seeds that stick to you like Velcro! It has become a huge problem because it out competes and crowds native plants the wildlife needs to survive and many animals won’t eat it.
Leafy Spurge
This noxious weed has yellow-green flowers and was accidently brought here from Eurasia. It has become a huge problem! It crowds out native plants and other beneficial plants that animals need for food and many animals won’t eat it. It also has a sap that can irritate the skin of people and animals and if it gets in your eye it can cause blindness!
Cheat Grass
This invasive plant is a grass! It is about knee height with long seeds hanging off one side of the top. It creates problems because it crowds out native grasses and plants that wildlife need to survive. It is only nutritious for animals in the beginning of the summer then dies in the fall when wildlife need to be fattening up for the winter.
Spotted Knapweed
Knapweed was brought here accidently from Eurasia. It has pink/purple colored flowers. These plants create problems by crowding out native and other beneficial plants that wildlife need for food. Knapweed isn’t very tasty to most animals.
Canada Thistle
This noxious weed has big purple flowers and is covered in spines. It creates problems because it crowds out native plants and other beneficial plants that wildlife needs to survive. Most animals won’t eat it because it is covered in painful spines.
Lesson Content
Go to http://fieldguide.mt.gov/ for a full field guide of Montana specific wildlife, plants, invasive species and more!
All About Plants
In these lessons learn about how plants grow and what they do for the ecosystem! What plants do you use?
Best for grades K-5
Best for grades 5-8
Best for grades K-5
Best for grades 5-8
Parts of A pLANT
In these lessons learn about the different parts of plants and how they work! What do plants need to grow?
Best for grades K-2
Best for grades 5-8
Riparian Plants
In this lesson you will learn about the importance of cattails in wetlands! Where have you seen cattails before?
Best for grades 3-8
Native Plants
In these lessons you will learn about native plants and why they are important for the ecosystem! What are some native plants where you live?
Best for grades K-5
Best for grades 5-8
Activities
1. Press Wildflowers
Collect wildflowers and stick in between pages of newspaper.
Stick heavy books under and on top of the newspaper with flowers in them to press the flowers.
Leave set until dried out.
You can then laminate the flowers and make book marks or leave as is.
2. Wildflower and other Plants Coloring Sheets
Field Journal Prompts
Write a few sentences and/or draw a picture to show how much you learned!
1. What makes plants invasive?
2. Why are plants important?
3. How can you stop invasive plants?
4. What do plants need to survive?
5. Why are native plants important?