Food We Get from Plants Chapter Notes | Science Class 3 ICSE PDF Download

Introduction

Types of Plants

• Plants vary in size and stem type, classified into trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, and creepers.
• Trees are tall, strong plants with a thick, woody main stem called a trunk, which supports branches with leaves, flowers, and fruits.
  • Examples: banyan tree, coconut tree, mango tree.
• Shrubs are smaller than trees with multiple woody stems.
  • Example: rose.
• Herbs are small, weak plants with thin, soft, non-woody stems. Their shoots may die each season, but roots can survive to produce new plants. Some herbs live for one season. 
  • Examples: mint, coriander.
• Climbers have weak stems and need support from other plants, sticks, or walls, using tendrils to cling. 
  • Example: grapevine.
• Creepers have weak stems and thin branches, growing along the ground and often bearing large fruits. 
  • Examples: bottle gourd, pumpkin.
• Many herbs are used as medicines or to add flavor to food.

Parts of Plants We Eat

Edible parts of plants include roots, stems, leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, and nuts, which provide most of our food.

Roots We Eat

• Roots of some plants, called root vegetables, are hard, swollen, and fleshy, storing food underground.
• Examples: radish, carrot, beetroot, sweet potato.

Stems We Eat

• Some plant stems, known as stem vegetables, are edible and grow either above or below the ground.
• Above-ground edible stems: sugar cane, sugar beet.
• Underground edible stems: potato, ginger, onion.

Leaves We Eat

• Leaves of some plants, called leafy vegetables, are edible and rich in nutrients.
• Examples: cabbage, lettuce, spinach.
• Carbohydrates are the simplest foods prepared and stored by plants.

Flowers We Eat

• Flowers of certain plants, known as flower vegetables, are edible.
• Examples: cauliflower, broccoli.

Fruits We Eat

• Fruits develop from flowers and contain seeds; some are sweet and fleshy, eaten raw, while others are used as vegetables.
• Sweet and fleshy fruits: apple, pear.
• Fruit vegetables: tomato, cucumber, brinjal.
• Tomato and cucumber can be eaten raw or cooked; brinjal and pumpkin need cooking.

Seeds We Eat

• Edible seeds include cereals, pulses, and nuts.
• Cereals like wheat, rice, maize, and oats are often ground into flour (e.g., wheat, maize, bajra).
• Pulses, commonly eaten with cereals, include lentils, gram, peas, and kidney beans.
• Nuts are edible seeds with a hard shell. Examples: almond, groundnut, walnut.

Other Edible Plant Products

Plants provide oils, spices, beverages, and other products used in cooking, medicines, and daily life.

Plant Oils

• Oils are extracted from seeds, leaves, fruits, or flowers.
• Cooking oils: groundnut, sunflower, mustard, olive, coconut.
• Medicinal oils: basil, eucalyptus.
• Oils for hair and body: coconut, mustard, olive.
• Oils used in soaps: lavender, sandalwood.

Spices

• Spices from flowers, leaves, roots, barks, or seeds add flavor, color, and smell to food, making it sweet, hot, sour, or spicy.
• Spices can be used whole or ground into powder.
• Examples: cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, clove, coriander, turmeric, red chillies.

Beverages and Sugar

• Plants provide beverages like tea, coffee, and cocoa.
• Tea is made from dried leaves of the tea plant.
• Coffee comes from coffee beans (seeds of the coffee plant).
• Cocoa and chocolate are made from roasted and ground seeds of the cacao tree.
• Sugar and jaggery are made from sugar cane juice.

Medicinal Plants

• Many plants, such as tulsi, neem, eucalyptus, and sandalwood, have medicinal properties in their barks, roots, leaves, flowers, or seeds.
• Examples: tulsi leaves, neem leaves, eucalyptus leaves, clove flowers, chamomile flowers, sandalwood stems.