Other Uses of Plants

Wood is the most valuable plant product besides food Main source of fuel for heating and cooking for ¼ of the world Lumber –building, furniture, wood pulp (paper, rayon, and other products) Paper-making fibers can also come from cotton, flax, rice, papyrus, and bamboo

Trees are a renewable resource Currently are used faster than they can be replaced To limit consumption of trees people now recycle paper Cost of ink and dye removal exceed the cost of making new paper from wood pulp Commercial landfills currently contain 60% of wastepaper.

Genetically engineered bacteria to the rescue By using genetically engineered bacteria that have the enzymes necessary to break down cellulose and ferment the resulting sugar, wastepaper is now being used to produce fuel-grade ethanol that is added to gasoline.

Medicines obtained from plants People have always used substances obtained from plants to treat a variety of ailments. Primitive cultures around the world still depend on native plants to ease pain and cure illnesses Today’s researchers have developed many modern medicines by studying the chemistry of these plants.

e. Medicines Aspirin – uses a derivative of Salix from willow trees – salicin (acetylsalicylic acid) – most widely used drug in the world

Cancer treatment drugs 2 cancer treatment drugs were discovered in the 1960’s found in the rosy periwinkle (pink flower, vinca) Vinblastine – Hodgkin’s disease, lymph nodes Vincristine –childhood leukemia Now available synthetically made

Yew trees also produce a chemical with cancer-fighting properties Taxol – found in several parts of the tree, but taken mostly from the bark and leaves 4 tons of bark will produce 1lb of Taxol The molecule for taxol was copies synthetically in 1994

Other medicines and plants Cortisone – sweet potatoes – treat inflammation and allergies Digitalis – foxglove (flower) – used to stabilize irregular hearbeats Reserpine – obtained from a shrub(Rauwolfia serpentina) – used to control high blood pressure

The 20 best selling drugs are either extracted from plants or are linked to plants in some way.

More than 2/3 of the people in the world obtain their medicines directly from plants More than 5,000 are traded and sold in China

More Plant uses – Plant fibers Plant fiber is also used to make clot 70% of clothing is still made from plants Cotton is the leading fiber plant Flax is used to make linen

Rubber Latex – milky white sap extracted from “rubber” trees South America made rubber balls and waterproof shoes from latex Today natural rubber comes from plantations in southeast Asia Guayule – member of the sunflower family is native in Southwestern United States is a promising new source of natural rubber Most of today’s rubber, however, is synthesized from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource