Compiled by Keith Hunt
The following is taken from "ABC's of Nature - a family answer
book" by Reader's Digest 1984.
All capital words are mine throughout for emphasis.
ARE ALL PLANTS GREEN AND LEAFY?
Stroll through any park or garden and you may find yourself
surrounded by the green and leafy living things people think of
as typical plants. The trees overhead and the shrubs in dense
hedges are clearly plants. So are the roses, zinnias, and
marigolds growing in neatly tended beds, and the lawns' carpet of
grass. Perhaps a few patches of moss or clumps of ferns grow in
shady nooks. They are also plants.
But what about the mushrooms, ghostly white and leafless,
poking up through the grass? They are fungi, another type of
plant. Boulders may be blotched with colorful crusty patches,
like smears of paint. These are lichens, clinging to the rocks;
they have no leaves, no stems, no roots, but they too are plants.
The greenish tint on trunk trees is yet another type of plant -
microscopic one-celled algae. A closer look at a woodlot, a
marsh, or almost any other habitat would reveal similar diversity
in the colors, form, and size of the living things we call
plants.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLANTS AND ANIMALS?
Plants and animals are as different as dandelions and
deer.....Most animals, for instance, can move about actively.
Most plants cannot.....Most plants contain the green
pigment chlorophyll, which permits them to manufacture their own
food through the process of photosynthesis. Animals must rely on
the food manufactured by green plants. But again there are
exceptions. The fungi and even certain flowing plants contain no
chlorophyll and so cannot manufacture their own food.
Unlike animals, plants have no nervous system....Even the
cellular structure of plants and animals is different. Most
plants have rigid cell walls containing cellulose, a substance
not found in any animal....Animals grow until they reach
maturity; plants never stop growing until they die.
HOW MANY KINDS OF PLANTS ARE THERE?
Plants of some sort live nearly everywhere on earth - on the
land, in the sea, from deserts to rain forests, and even on and
inside the bodies of animals. They include some of the smallest
living things - one-celled bacteria and algae so minute that they
can be seen only with the aid of microscopes - and the largest of
all living things - the giant sequoia trees of western North
America.
In all science estimates that the vast and varied plant
kingdom includes MORE THAN 350,000 SPECIES.
In terms of sheer numbers of individuals there are FAR MORE
plants than animals in the world. And it terms of combined MASS,
the plants account for nearly all the living matter that exists
on earth........
COULD WE LIVE WITHOUT PLANTS?
Without earth's green mantle of vegetation, animal life as
we know it could not exist. For plants, from the loftiest trees
to the tiniest algae in the sea, are the ultimate source of the
very food we eat and the oxygen in the air.
In the process of photosynthesis, green plants form simple
sugars in the presence of sunlight. As part of the reaction, they
release oxygen into the atmosphere - the oxygen that all animals
need to survive. In a never-ending cycle, the animals in turn
exhale the carbon dioxide that plants require for photosynthesis.
Since plants alone can manufacture food, all animals must
rely on them for nourishment. Some animals eat the leaves,
fruits, and other parts of the plants themselves. Others feed on
animals that in turn fed on plants.
Humans use plants in countless other ways as well. Plants
supply us with fibres for textiles and ropes, wood products for
buildings and furniture, paper for a multitude of purposes; and
even for lifesaving medicines.
ALGAE ARE SIMPLE PLANTS
What are algae?
Rockweed, kelp, sea lettuce, dulse, and all the other
well-known seaweeds are algae. So is the bubbly green scum that
forms in stagnating ponds, and the greenish film
that develops on the walls of aquariums.
In all, more than 25,000 SPECIES of plants are classified as
ALGAE. Despite a tremendous diversity in shape and size, all
share several traits. Like the majority of plants,
MOST algae contain chlorophyll, the green substance that makes
them able to manufacture their own food. BUT unlike MORE FAMILIAR
plants of fields and forests, algae DO NOT bear flowers OR
produce SEEDS.
They do not have true leaves, stems, or roots, although the
larger kind are often intricately branched.
Algae multiply in a variety of ways. The single-celled
species can simply divide to form two new individuals. Some
produce SPORES that grow into new plants. In a process
called fragmentation, pieces may be broken off and, if conditions
are favorable, continue to grow on their own. Some algae can
reproduce sexually by the fusion of male and female germ cells.
HOW BIG ARE ALGAE?
The tiniest algae are single-celled forms, so minute that
millions can exist unseen in a gallon of seawater....At the other
extreme are the giant kelps. Some of these are more than 200 feet
long; one type can grow to its full length of 150 feet in just
one year....
The thin green film that forms on moist stones, flowerpots,
and the shady side of trees is actually millions of individual
single-celled algae. Other kinds can transform stagnant pools
into a thick greenish soup.
The Red Sea, in turn is noted for reddish algae that
sometimes tint its water. Similarly, "red tides" in the ocean are
caused by population explosions of algae. These strange outbreaks
can have devastating effects, for the algae sometimes produce
POISONS that kill millions of fish.
Eeriest of all are certain of the dinoflagellates - minute,
one-celled algae that swim about by whipping long oarlike hairs.
Some of these tiny plants are phosphorescent and produce the
pinpricks of light that are often seen flashing in tropical seas.
WHERE DO ALGAE LIVE?
Water, both salt and fresh, is the NATURAL habitat of MOST
algae. But these incredible adaptable plants thrive in MANY other
places as well. Some live in the upper layers of the soil, on
rocks, tree trunks, and even on the walls and roofs of buildings.
Many kinds survive in the frigid climates of both the Arctic and
Antarctica; others are equally at home in hot springs with
temperatures as high as 185 degrees F.
Algae also live in and on the bodies of other plants and
animals......A type of European flatworm gets its dark green
color from the many algae that live and multiply beneath its
skin. Turtles are often camouflaged by colonies of larger algae
that live attached to their shells. And sloths, large mammals
that inhabit the treetops of tropical rain forests, frequently
have a greenish tinge from the many algae that live on their fur.
ARE ALL ALGAE GREEN?
Although all algae contain the green coloring matter
chlorophyll, not all of them are green. Other pigments frequently
MASK the chlorophyll, tinting different kinds with a rainbow of
hues. Many of the large, familiar seaweeds, for example, are
various shades of brown. But dulse, a widespread species, is
purplish, sometimes yellow. Others range from delicate pink to
deep violet.
Microscopic varieties, are equally colorful. The kinds that
live in hot springs tinge the walls with splashes of brilliant
yellow, orange, and red. Myriads of algae cause the strange
phenomenon of red snow: living on the surface of snowfields and
glaciers, they sometimes stain them with a reddish bloom......
ARE ALGAE EDIBLE?
People who live near the ocean have always collected
seaweed.....seaweeds are cultivated for human consumption.
Animals, too, take advantage of algae. Sheep have been known to
patrol beaches at low tide in search of laver. Horses, cattle,
and pigs are fed seaweed in coastal areas.....But algae are most
important as an INDIRECT food source.....The primary producers of
food in the ocean and other bodies of water, they are fed upon by
microscopic animals that are eaten in turn by larger
animals......
END OF QUOTES
God created algae (unless we want to believe that God set
certain things in motion and there would be spin-offs as an
automatic result, or with the fall of mankind into sin,
some things so resulted) and useful as God created them for
whatever reason He created them for, sometimes the reason is not
too obvious (why do we have flies and mosquitos, surely the world
can live very well without either, so there is a question as to
God's direct creation at the beginning and what was allowed by
God to take place after sin entered the world, maybe from the
beginning God never wanted flies and mosquitos to be part of
mankind's physical life). Humans have made use of "algae" and
some substances in algae and deposits such as diatomaceous earth
- deposited over the ages by diatoms - tiny one-celled algae with
silica in their cell walls. I is a gritty material used as a mild
abrasive in things like metal polishes. It serves as a filter in
sugar refining and an absorbent in the manufacture of dynamite.
The creation by God of living cells with their atoms which
make up all things we call "alive" is very wonderfull and in some
ways mysteriously done. It is done in such a way that the Eternal
told mankind that some things were "clean" to eat as food and
some things were "unclean" to eat as human food. We would
naturally, with just our own reasoning, think that horse meat
would be very good to eat as part of our regular diet. Horses eat
green, seed bearing grasses and hay. They eat good oats, bran,
flax seeds (flax seeds must be cooked for them though). Horses
eat all this good stuff, the latter of course should be only in
small amounts as compared to grasses and hay. It works for
them to produce healthy strong muscles and bodies. If humans ate
only what horses eat, we would become unhealthy and probably die
eventually directly from such a diet or indirectly by being
unhealthy from only that diet of food. Although horses can grown
and be strong on such a diet of good grasses and hay, their flesh
meat is STILL by God classified as UNclean for human consumption.
It is all still to do with the created cells, how it all
works within itself, as within the working of cells of all living
substances.
The science of mankind may not be able to figure it out,
hence mankind without the divine revelation and laws of God, eat
just about anything that moves or crawls or grows anywhere. So
humans eat seaweeds (large algae) by the plate full. Humans have
not made a factory business out of collecting moss and bottling
it up to sell as a type of butter spread on your bread, as yet,
but you never know what humans will do next. They sure have done
some other crazy things within so-called "food consumption."
Algae are mainly water living plants, salt and fresh water
is their natural habitat as we have seen. What law did God give
for waters and the things in the waters for us humans to eat and
not eat?
"These shall you eat of ALL that are in the waters,
whatsoever HAS FINS AND SCALES in the waters, in the seas, and in
the rivers, them shall you eat. And all that have NOT fins and
scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of ALL that MOVE in the
waters, and of ANY LIVING THING which is in the waters, they
shall be an ABOMINATION unto you......" (Lev.11:9-10).
"These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: ALL that
has FINS and SCALES shall you eat. And WHATSOEVER has NOT fins
and scales you may NOT eat; it is UNclean unto you" (Deut.
14:9-10).
It is very simple, such things as algae, seaweeds, dulse,
moss etc. (which maybe green but do not reproduce by seeds)
shrimp, lobster, crab, snails, cockles, mussels, water snakes,
etc, etc. all of which do not have fins and scales, are not foods
which God created for us to go out and collect, bring home, cook,
put on our food plates, put into our salad or spread on our
bread, and consume as part of our daily or weekly diet.
I have read recently reports from those scientists in the
"know" who now admit that 70 to 80 percent of all human
sicknesses on the face of the earth are caused by and from
our diet eating habits.
As the late health and strength strong man Charles Atlas
used to say, "You are what you eat."
You need to make sure you know, understand, and obey, the
balanced food and health laws that God ordained, besides diet,
they include, 7 or 8 hours of sleep per day, regular physical
exercise, a good mental happy attitude of mind, and also
continued exercise of the mind in reading, studies or other
things that keep the mind active,
..............................
TO BE CONTINUED
Compiled and written June 2003
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