Plants can provide us with different sorts of food materials. In some cases, we eat the leaves of the plants, as in the case of lettuce and cabbage. In the case of other plants, we consume the plant roots, for example carrot, parsnip, swede. In many cases, the part of the plant we eat is the fruit, even though we may think of it as a vegetable. A ‘fruit’ is the part of the plant in which the seeds form.
Imagery by Hollyanne Schnieden
- fruit
- leaves
- roots
Scientists believe that food plants could be grown on Mars
Pictures of the food materials that can be obtained from each of these plants are provided below. Look at the pictures of the food material produced from each of the plants, and decide whether it consists of roots, leaves, or fruit. Then drag and drop the picture into the correct section.
| roots | fruit | leaves |
|---|---|---|
Certain plants can provide different food types. For example, some varieties of pea plant can give us green peas, which are seeds, but we can also eat the whole pods (as in the case of ‘snow’ or ‘mange-tout’ peas above), and these are actually the fruit of the plant. Another example is the quinoa plant, which can give us seeds and leaves.