Flower and Plant Uses

                  We most often think of flowers as ornamentss or gifts.  But flowers and other plants are used in many different ways.  In fact, some other traditional Mother's Day gifts actually come from plants!
Perfumes
                  In ancient times, people didn't bathe as often as modern people do.  They could get pretty smelly!  This is one of the reasons that ancient people carried flowers with them ---- to help cover their body odor.  Today, perfumes include oils from different types of flowers.  Roses andjasmine are commonly used to make perfumes.
Why do flowers smell?
                  Flowers' pleasing scents aren't just for our benefit.  The good smells are used to attrack pollinators ---- bats and insects that spread pollen from flower to flower so that seeds will be made.
                  Even the unpleasant "stinky plant" also known as the corpse flower, has a reason for its horrible smell.  (It smells like a dead rat, an exxpert told the newspaper).  The plant is pollinated by carrion beetles and flies ---- insects that also feed on dead animals.  Its stinky smell attracks them.
Foods
                 Were you thinking of getting Mom chocolates for Mother's Day?  The chocolate was made from the fruit of the cacao (kuh-KAH-oh) tree.  The pods are pollinated by tiny gnats.  When ripe, they're opened and the seeds are removed from sticky white pulp.  The seeds are fermented, dried and ground up to make chocolate. 
                  Mom will need some sugar with that chocolate; it comes from sugar cane plants.  Sugar cane is a grass that grows about 16 feet tall.  The stalks are dried, then the sugary juice is extracted.
Medicines and other uses
                   Flowers and plants are used by scientists to create different kinds of medicines and other products for people and animals.
                   Many people use aloe plants to soothe burns and sunburns.  The leaves of these plants have a gel inside.  People break open the leaves to release the gel, then spread it on their skin.
                   Stinging nettle plants have small hairs on the leaves and stem that sting when they touch our skin.  The sting hurts, but many people believe contact with the plant relieves the pain of arthritis.
                   Does your toothpaste taste minty?  That flavor comes from the mint plant.  Mint is also used to flavor chewing gum.
                   Seeds from sunflowers are an important source of oil and are used in making biodiesel fuel, margarines and some cosmetics.