Plants to the Rescue!

May 1, 2023
A plant scientist explains why plants are important. This very simple survey starts off with introductions to the greenhouse effect (which, Baliga writes, is making our planet "warmer and weirder") and other environmental issues but then really goes back to basics: "Most plants have leaves, stems, and roots, and they're an important source of food for animals and humans." From there, and ignoring his own definition to bring algae and fungi into the discussion, he goes on to a quick flurry of select vegetative topics and wonders, from the various sustainable uses to which beets, bamboo, and banana trees are, or theoretically could be, put and the importance of taking care of soils and habitats to the often vaguely worded medicinal values of plants, before closing with a push to grow houseplants and cultivate window boxes. Aside from the speculative passages, which the author tosses off without furnishing either specific examples or leads to further information, little of this is likely to be new even to very young audiences. Still, as a refresher, this does offer a cheery outlook as well as the visual appeal of the ever reliable Lambert's bright renditions of flora, either isolated or in natural settings, being tended to by a racially diverse cast. Rambling and untidy but may take adventitious root. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 6-8)

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