A strawberry is not a berry
Raspberries are drupes
8 surprising facts about plants
1You can buy young trees that have been inoculated with truffle fungus. This means they can produce truffles when grown under optimum conditions. Many truffle species are edible and are an expensive delicacy. One white truffle sold for £ 165,000!
A type of mycorrhizal fungi, truffles form a symbiotic relationship with trees such as hazel( Corylus avellana), oak( Quercus robur), beech( Fagus sylvatica), silver birch( Betula pendula), hornbeam( Carpinus betulus) and evergreen oak( Quercus ilex). They obtain their energy in the form of sugars from their host plant. In return, the roots of the host tree benefit from an extended network of mycelia( the thread-like roots of fungi), which improves access to water and nutrients from the soil.
Truffles grow wild in parts of the UK and are hidden beneath the soil, like the very best treasure!
2
Up to 2,000 new plants species are discovered every year. At the same time, others( there are almost 400,000 known ferns and flowering plants) become extinct. One of the most endangered species is the Western underground orchid, Rhizanthella gardneri, native to Western Australia. It shows no leaves or stems above the surface of the ground and demonstrates a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi.
One of the rarest plants in the world, thought to be extinct in the wild, is Encephalartos woodii. This South African native is a cycad species and only male specimens are known to exist.
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