Wild and cultivated plants
Children, have you noticed that no matter where you are, we are surrounded by various plants? You see them while walking and returning from school, walking in the park, relaxing by the river or being in the forest. Plants are everywhere. They grow along paths, in meadows, fields, vegetable gardens, in the steppes and even high in the mountains. Plants can even be found in arid deserts, lakes, swamps, and even in Antarctica.
But today we will talk about those plants that grow in the vast expanses of our country.
The flora is very diverse in structure, habitat and use of plants by humans.
Have you ever thought about what the similarities and differences are, for example, between a pine tree and an apple tree, or a tomato and a dandelion?
Of course, you know that both pine and apple trees are trees, and dandelion and tomato are herbaceous plants. But their difference is that apple trees and tomatoes require care, but pine and dandelion can grow on their own.
Wild plants
You know that some plants grow in fields, vegetable gardens, and some in meadows, along rivers and lakes, in parks and forests. Do you think there are significant differences between the plants that a person grows in his garden, orchard or field? And how do these plants differ from those that can be found on lawns, along paths or in the forest? And everything is very simple. It turns out that all plants that grow on their own and without human intervention are called wild plants.
Now let's take a closer look at such plants. Among wild plants there can be not only herbaceous plants, but they also include trees and shrubs. In a word, these are those plants that grow everywhere and on their own.
Cultivated and wild plants
All those plants that we can find on our planet are divided into two large groups.
The first group includes plants that people grow and care for. Such plants are called cultivated.
The second group includes trees, shrubs and herbal plants that do not need to be looked after, since they grow anywhere and on their own. These plants are wild.
Now let's try to take a closer look at what the difference between these plants is.
All wild plants grow, as a rule, without human intervention and in those areas where nature has created suitable conditions for them or where the plants have been able to adapt to these conditions themselves. In addition, no one takes care of wild plants, and they grow on their own.
But cultivated plants need to be looked after. A person sows or plants such plants, and in order to get a good harvest of cultivated plants, a person needs to carefully take care of them.
How did cultivated plants arise?
Previously, in ancient times, all plants that grew on the earth were wild. Man, collecting their fruits, berries, herbs and roots, spent a lot of time searching for them. Then people realized that instead of going far away for food, they could have it close to their home. So, after some time, a person began to plant wild plants near his home and so that they would take root and produce a good harvest, people began to care for these plants. Over time, these plants began to change under the watchful attention of man. This is how cultivated plants appeared. After all, translated from Latin, the term “culture” is translated as cultivating or processing.
Lesson topic: Cultivated and wild plants.
Main goals and objectives: To familiarize 2nd grade students with the fact that there are wild and cultivated plants, explain the difference and give an idea of why a person engages in cultivation.
Lesson Plan:
- The concept of cultivated and wild plants
- How did cultivated plants appear?
- Why does a person strive to cultivate plants?
During the classes
1. The concept of cultivated and wild plants
What do you think are the main differences between pine and pear? (listen to all the answers, mark the one that says that a pine tree grows in the forest, and a pear grows in the garden). What is the difference between a dandelion and a cucumber? (also listen to all the answers, mark the one that says that the dandelion grows on its own and can be found anywhere you want, but a person takes care of the cucumber and can only be found in the garden).
And now that you already know how diverse plants are, let's divide them into two large groups. Those plants that grow everywhere and do not need a person to care for them are called wild plants (their name speaks for itself). Those plants that grow in the garden and whose growth requires human intervention are called cultivated. Their name conveys their essence to a lesser extent, because we are accustomed to consider cultured people who go to theaters, visit libraries, and speak without swear words. However, the word “cultivated” in relation to plants has a different meaning, and we will talk about it a little later.
Practical task (for the development of logic):
Which plants do you think appeared first - wild or cultivated? Why? (listen to all the answers, pay special attention to the explanations, give the opportunity to express their opinions to those children for whom this is important).
2. How did cultivated plants appear?
You correctly said that since plants appeared on Earth before humans came here, wild plants have a longer history than cultivated ones. In ancient times, when man had just moved away from the monkeys and ate what he could collect from trees and bushes, all plants grew wild. Human intervention consisted only of harvesting.
The first cultivated plants appeared when man noticed that in order to grow grain, grain had to be placed in the ground. And in order to grow an apricot, you need to put a seed in the ground. In a word, from that moment, when new trees, shrubs and simply small bushes began to appear not on their own, but with the direct participation of man, a group of cultivated plants began to develop.
Practical task:
What did a person need to do in order for a cultivated plant to produce a harvest? (correct answers - plant, water, remove harmful insects, weed, treat if the plant is sick, drive away wild animals that would like to eat something tasty).
3. Why does a person strive to cultivate plants?
Why were people not satisfied with the harvest that wild plants provided? Let's compare the fruits of a wild apple tree and a cultivated one; you've probably seen both in your life. The fruits of the wild apple tree are small, mostly sour, and their quantity is relatively small. As for the apple tree growing in the garden, the fruits are much larger in size, they are sweeter, and their yield is much higher. The same applies to raspberries - wild raspberries are small and sour, while cultivated ones, which can be found in the garden, are large and sweet.
All this is the result of human influence. It turns out that the word “culture” has another meaning - translated from Latin it means “to cultivate”, “to process”. Just as we are “processed” in the theater, in books, in the process of education, instilling positive qualities and properties, a person acts in exactly the same way in relation to plants.
What else did people do to cultivate plants? He observed which seeds produced the best harvest, and the following year he planted only those. This increased productivity and improved the quality of the plants he grew.
Man also diversified the products he grew. For example, wild cherries are small, sour, with a large stone, and predominantly light red in color. And the cherries that we buy at the market and eat every spring and summer (that is, cultivated) are completely different. Firstly, there are many colors and shades of it - from pale yellow to dark burgundy. Secondly, there are many flavor shades, so everyone will be happy - both sour and sweet lovers.
Practical task:
List all the types of cabbage that you know (the correct answer is white, red, cauliflower, broccoli, Savoy, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, Peking, Chinese). Inform children that all these varieties were bred by humans as part of selection - a special science that deals with improving plant varieties or animal breeds, as well as breeding new ones.
Assessment: Ask students to answer test questions. Based on their answers, it will be possible to determine how much they have learned the lesson material:
- What plants can be called wild? Which ones are cultural? Is a plum tree that bears fruit without human intervention and grows along the way to the sea classified as cultivated or wild?
- Why do people cultivate plants? What additional benefits does this give him?
- What is the name of the science that deals with improving the existing properties of plants and animals, as well as the formation of new varieties?
In addition, due to the large number of practical tasks, you can reward children who were most active during the lesson.
4. Lesson summary:
During the lesson, students learned:
- Which plants are called wild, which are cultivated.
- What's the difference between them?
- How did cultivated plants appear?
- Why do people cultivate plants?
Homework:
Find 5 wild and 5 cultivated plants that do not grow in Russia and that were not mentioned during the lesson.
The world of trees, bushes and flowers on our planet is very rich. These are hundreds of thousands of plants that have settled throughout the Earth. Over many centuries, they were able to adapt to the climate in different parts of the world. They live in the desert, where it doesn’t rain, and in the north, where it’s frosty. Scientists call plants together flora. In ancient Rome, Flora was the name of the goddess of flowers, spring and fruits.
In contact with
Classmates
Plants are living organisms that can process light and heat coming from the sun. With the help of the luminary, they build their cells from which they are composed. This is a very difficult job. It occurs in special parts of cells where a green coloring substance called chlorophyll is located. It is not difficult to understand what this word means. Translated from the language spoken by people in Ancient Greece, chloro means green and phylle means leaf. Chlorophyll gives leaves and stems their green color.
In addition to sunlight, plants use carbon dioxide and water, which are inorganic, that is, nonliving substances. Rays affect these substances, and the result is starch and sugar, which are among the substances that make up living organisms. It is they who serve as material for the further construction of cells. When carbon dioxide is processed, oxygen is released, which people and animals breathe.
It turns out that if there were no plants on earth, there would be no people. They are divided into trees, shrubs and herbs. All of them together are called the “lungs” of our planet.
Structure and protection
Most representatives of the flora have:
- Leaves;
- Stem;
- Root system.
A shoot is a stem with leaves. The trunk is the "stem" of a tree. The root system and foliage are the feeders of trees and grasses. And also with the help of roots they stay on the surface of the earth. As a result of development that lasted many centuries, some representatives of the plant kingdom learned to defend themselves from insects and animals that are herbivores.
Most often, stems and leaves act as protectors. The foliage may secrete a special substance that makes the plant taste bitter or even poisonous (henbane or wormwood), or stinging (nettle), or pungent (sedge and cactus). Very often the stems surround themselves with thorns and thorns. All these methods help protect plants from all those who want to eat them.
Manifold
The flora of the Earth is not only rich, but also diverse. That is, plants are very different from each other. At the same time, they can be combined according to certain characteristics. Based on their appearance, they are grouped into families. This means that they have common ancestors that appeared a very, very long time ago.
For example, there is a family of cereals, or bluegrass, which includes well-known plants used on the farm:
Of all the cereal crops, the main one is wheat, which began to be grown back when people lived in caves.
Plants are also divided into species and genera. You can read about how this division occurs in special books - reference books. This is necessary in order to know whether the plant can be used as food or to make medicine from it.
A large number of plants do not produce seeds, flowers or fruits. Many are not green, and some have no chlorophyll at all, such as mushrooms. Representatives of the flora also differ in size. Some are small in size and can only be seen with a microscope. Others, reaching maturity, become giants.
Kinds
In addition to the differences described above, plants can be cultivated or wild.
- Cultural ones include those that people plant and care for themselves.
- And the wild ones reproduce, grow, bloom and bear fruit on their own.
The cereals that have already been mentioned are also cultivated. They are of greatest importance to human life. After them, potatoes, beets, peas and beans are especially valued. Some cultivated plants are used as food not only for humans, but also for animals. Medicines are also made from them, they are grown for beauty, planted in parks, gardens and on windowsills.
Man uses various parts of plants for his needs:
- Roots.
- Stems.
- Leaves.
- Seeds.
- Fruit.
- Inflorescences.
However, at first all the plants were wild. People brought many species from different countries, where there were different weather conditions. They had to give the plants more or less moisture and nutrients, plant them earlier or later.
Wild and domestic
Having become cultivated, plants have changed a lot, especially those parts that people need. They increased in size, and their properties also changed. For example, apple and strawberry fruits have become much larger and tastier. Potatoes now contain more starch and are also larger. Compared to their predecessors, cereal grains contain more substances needed by humans.
Wild species require fewer nutrients than their cultivated counterparts. Most wild and cultivated plants require a large amount of moisture for their life and development. To harvest a rich harvest, you need to study what each species needs and follow the rules.
Herbs, trees, and shrubs also grow wild..
Herbs
Let's look at some of them.
Plantain.
It belongs to the plantain family and is either annual or perennial. Grows along roads, fields, meadows and wastelands. There are many types of plantain, including large and medium. It is used to make medicines that heal wounds, and tinctures are made from it, which are drunk to help digest food better when there is a sore throat. Plantain seeds stick to the skins of animals, clothes, and shoes of people - this is how they spread over large areas.
Yarrow.
Like plantain, it grows near roads, in meadows and fields. This is a perennial herb belonging to the Asteraceae family. This name comes from the fact that yarrow has large white flowers with many petals. It is used as medicine, added to various dishes to improve their taste and bred to admire.
Dandelion.
It is also a perennial herb and also belongs to the Compositae family. Dandelion officinalis is a well-known plant. It has long basal leaves and bright yellow flowers. It closes at nightfall or in inclement weather. When the time comes to reproduce, the yellow petals fall off and are replaced by transparent hairs. They are picked up by the wind and transported over long distances. Dandelion is also known as a medicinal plant, as its name suggests.
Nettle.
A flowering herbaceous plant from the nettle family. Its stems and leaves are covered with stinging hairs. Therefore, touching nettle is dangerous - it burns the skin and blisters appear on it. Usually these burns do not cause much harm, although they do cause pain. But in hot countries there are some species that you can die if you touch. In this way, the plant protects itself from herbivores. It can be annual or perennial. The fruit of nettle is a small flat nut.
Nettle is used in medicine, soup and salad are prepared from it, and it is fed to domestic animals. To make it stop being hot, you need to pour boiling water over it. Nettle is good to add to water when rinsing hair after washing. After this they become smooth and silky.
For a long time in Rus', sails and strong bags were sewn from nettles. In Japan, it was used to make fabric that was very durable. This fabric was used to sew clothes for warriors and even make shields and bow strings. Today this plant is used in the production of lightweight fabrics.. And with the help of an infusion of dried nettle leaves, they fight pests, such as aphids.
Trees
Shrubs
- Forest grapes.
- Pomegranate.
- Strawberry.
- Blackberry.
- Currant.
- Raspberries.
In the wild there are plants that are also grown in the garden:
Plants from the Red Book
The number of some wild plants is greatly reduced due to both climate change and human economic activities. They are included in the Red Book, they need to be protected so that plants do not completely disappear from the face of the Earth.
Snowdrop white.
Blooms in April. Its flower is very beautiful. It consists of six white petals. It is also called a milk flower, since the snowdrop bud resembles a drop of milk. Because of its beauty, people pick this plant in huge quantities. Therefore, it is no longer found around large cities. Collect snowdrops, like other plants from the Red Book, is strictly prohibited.
Lungwort.
A small perennial plant with a branched root. The flowers are collected in umbrella inflorescences. When they first open, they are bright purple in color, and later darken. Because the flowers bloom gradually, the lungwort is multi-colored. Used in medicine since ancient times. Blooms in April - May for only one month. The plant is named lungwort because bees collect tribute from it in early spring.
Wolf's bast.
A small upright shrub. It has few branches with grayish-yellow bark. The stem and branches are covered with brown dots. The leaves are long, oval, curling at the tips of the branches. The peculiarity of the wolf's bast is that first it has lilac-pink flowers, and then leaves. The flowers exude a delicate aroma, reminiscent of vanilla. The poisonous fruit ripens in August; it is red in color and the leaves are green.
Ludka bifolia.
A small herbaceous plant with loose clusters of fragrant white flowers of the same size. Lyubka bifolia blooms at the end of May and throughout June. It is also called a forest orchid - for its beauty, or a night violet, since in the evening it begins to smell very strongly.
Pests
In nature, in addition to animals, plants have other natural enemies - these are so-called pests, which include:
All types of pests must be dealt with using special means, otherwise they can destroy trees, grasses and shrubs.
The huge variety of cultivated plants, thanks to which we have many tasty and healthy foods today, is taken for granted by modern people. Meanwhile, if we were in the Stone Age, we would not have found there large and juicy apples, sweet yellow bananas, or huge ears of corn. And we probably wouldn’t even recognize many wild plants that are the ancestors of modern cultivated ones. This post is about how cultivated plants have changed over the past hundreds and thousands of years thanks to selection methods and our ancestors.
1) Apple tree
This plant has been known to people since ancient times. There are several types of wild apple trees, common in Europe and Asia. Moreover, according to genetic studies, the ancestors of modern cultivated varieties are two species: the Sievers apple tree and the wild forest apple tree.
Sievers apple tree
Wild forest apple tree
Both of these species have small fruits (2 to 5 cm in size) and not the most pleasant taste. Sievers apples have a bitter taste, and the fruits of the wild forest apple tree are very sour. However, crossing and selection of these species led to the emergence of modern cultivars.
It is believed that the first to purposefully grow apple trees were the inhabitants of Central Asia, who lived west of the Tien Shan Mountains, and this happened more than 2000 years ago. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, apple trees came to Greece, and from there they spread throughout Europe. The Greeks and Romans worked hard to develop new juicy and sweet varieties of apples.
For a long time, apples were almost the only fruit in Russia. Apple trees appeared in monastery gardens back in the 11th century, and in the 18th century, the Russian breeder Bolotov described about 600 varieties of apples.
2) Wheat, corn and other grains
Cereals have been known to people for a very long time, and it was with the cultivation of wheat, barley and other cereals that the Neolithic revolution began more than 10 thousand years ago. Wheat and barley are native to the Middle East; their cultivation probably began in the territory of modern Iraq and Turkey.
Wild barley
Wild species were noticeably different from modern cultivated ones. They had smaller grains and fewer of them per ear. But the main drawback was that the ripened grains immediately fell to the ground, so it was very difficult to collect them. Only over time were varieties developed that were convenient to harvest - reaping whole ears of corn along with grains, and then threshing them.
American Indians began growing corn more than 5,000 years ago. The exact ancestor of modern corn has not been established, but the closest wild plant to it, teosinte, looks like this:
Not only does it have few grains and they are small, but these grains also have a rather hard shell.
3) Bananas
We know banana as a soft and sweet yellow fruit. But the wild ancestors of bananas were very different. These were small, green and hard fruits, in addition filled with seeds.
Wild bananas
However, people have found something useful in this fruit. Several thousand years ago, people began growing bananas in Southeast Asia, and then they gradually spread throughout the world.
The selection of bananas took quite a long time. Even the Spanish conquerors, who brought bananas to America 500 years ago, considered them food for slaves and animals. At this time, bananas were still inedible raw and had to be boiled or fried. Only towards the end of the 19th century were modern varieties of bananas developed, which quickly became one of the favorite foods among residents of the United States and Europe.
4) Carrots
Wild carrots have long grown in vast areas of Eurasia. People ate the roots of this plant as food, but wild carrots are bitter and hard, so this vegetable was not popular. Carrots were known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but were forgotten during the Middle Ages.
Wild carrots
Carrots returned to Europe from the East. It is believed that the place where modern varieties of carrots originate is the territory of modern Afghanistan; it was here that carrots began to be specially grown around the 10th century. In the 12th and 13th centuries, carrots again came to Europe. At this time, carrots were of different colors - from white to purple. It was only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the familiar orange varieties of carrots with thick, sweet root vegetables were developed in Holland.
5) Watermelons
Watermelons are native to South-West Africa. The wild ancestors of modern watermelons still grow in the Kalahari Desert.
Wild watermelons in the desert
The fruits of wild watermelons are small - no more than 10 cm in size and taste bitter. Even 4000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians discovered them and began to grow them, although not for consumption, but to obtain oil from the seeds. The ancient Romans began to pickle watermelons and make jam from it.
Gradually, watermelons began to be grown in different countries. They became larger and sweeter, but back in the 17th century. watermelons were quite different from modern ones:
Watermelons in a painting by an Italian artist of the 17th century.
Russia made a significant contribution to the selection of watermelons, where the watermelon arrived back in the 13th century. After the fall of Astrakhan, the Caspian steppes became one of the main centers of watermelon breeding, where large, sweet and drought-resistant varieties were bred.
6) Peaches
As the name implies, peaches came to Russia and Europe from Persia. However, the birthplace of peaches is China, and these fruits began to be grown here 4,000 years ago.
This is what the wild ancestors of the peach looked like
Scientists are inclined to believe that modern peaches are the result of hybridization of several species, but the wild ancestors of the peach were very small with a large pit and a salty taste, and their size was only 2-3 cm. The modern peach is about 60 times larger (by weight) than its own wild predecessors.
7) Cucumbers
Cucumbers began to be grown in India a very long time ago, about 4-6 thousand years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans grew cucumbers in large quantities and considered them a very healthy product. The details of cucumber breeding are unknown, but wild cucumbers still grow in large quantities in India.
Wild cucumbers
Wild cucumbers are small, bitter and very prickly. Local residents use their thickets to decorate fences and walls.
8) Cabbage
Cabbage is one of the few cultivated plants that originates not from some distant places, but from the territory of Europe.
Wild cabbage
Also, wild cabbage is quite edible and has a taste reminiscent of ordinary cultivated varieties of white cabbage. True, the leaves of this cabbage are tougher and, of course, do not form heads.
Cabbage began to be grown in Southern Europe more than 4 thousand years ago. The ancient Greeks and Romans were very fond of cabbage and believed that it could cure many diseases. Since ancient times, cabbage was also grown by the Slavs, for whom it was one of the main vegetable crops.
What's the end result? Sometimes there is an opinion that selection and artificial selection are something reminiscent of the methods of modern genetic engineering. Not really. Our ancestors, while breeding cultivated varieties, did not interfere with the genotype and crossed only closely related species with each other. So it’s rather the opposite - the above examples are examples of the success of traditional breeding methods, showing what can be achieved without the use of GMOs.
Wild and cultivated plants
All plants are divided into two large groups:
Cultivated plants- plants specially bred (cultivated) by humans for use in economic activities.
wild- plants got their name due to the fact that they grow everywhere. Their development, maturation, and fruiting do not require human intervention.
If a gardener transplants wild raspberries to his plot, takes care of them and collects the fruits, then such raspberries will be called cultivated. If clover grows in natural meadows, it is a wild grass. But it can also become cultural if it is sown and nurtured by a person. This is the case with every plant.
Finish every row
Find the extra plant in each row and circle it. Explain your decision.
Answer: Cultivated plants are drawn in the first row, so dandelion, a wild plant, is superfluous here. And in the second row, on the contrary, wild plants are placed, so there is an extra pear here, which is a cultivated plant and falls out of this row. 
Do you know fruits that are grown in hot countries? Connect the pictures and names with strings from the balls. 
Draw one wild and one cultivated plant that grows near your house. Sign them.
