Living things show some particular characteristics which are shared by plants also. For example, the grass is considered a small plant extending a few inches above the ground and appears green in color.
Is Grass a Living Thing? The grass is a living thing as it has many similar features, including the ability to reproduce sexually or asexually through flowers and stems. Moreover, it can adapt to changing environmental conditions due to higher resistance to drought and temperature. In addition, it contains millions of cells and shows growth patterns. It can also make food and respire to break down the food. Furthermore, it can interact with the environment and animals and respond to stimuli.
Grass shares many features with living things and is a producer that can prepare their food without any help through photosynthesis.
Furthermore, you can consider it a living thing by observing its lush green leaves that respond to your actions.
What is grass?
It is a green plant with narrow slender leaves and jointed stems that are hollow from the inside. They have a cylindrical and upright structure having alternative leaves.
They appear lush green due to chlorophyll in their leaves, which is responsible for photosynthesis and food production.
Moreover, they are widely used to cover ground or as food for animals and humans. You probably have seen the grass on your lawn spread on the large surface area.
These tough green plants that are smaller in size help protect the soil by acting as a barrier to erosion and flooding.
Furthermore, almost 60,000 to 65,000 square miles of the surface area is covered with turf grass in the USA.
Why is grass a living thing?
Many physical and internal features of grass make it a living thing. Their characteristics are similar to humans that can grow, reproduce, and move.
Presence of cells
It is multicellular, which means it contains millions of cells in the leaves, roots, and stems that are combined to form tissues and organs to build a complete plant.
The internal composition of the cell is much similar to those of human cells, but they have chloroplast and large size single vacuole as additional organelles that can help get rid of waste material.
Moreover, vacuoles store food prepared by the plants to provide nutrients for growth through photosynthesis, in which chloroplast plays the role.
Chlorophyll is a green pigment is present in the chloroplast, giving a lush green color to the plant’s leaves.
Growth habits
Plants can grow in proper environmental conditions, indicating they are living things. They need sunlight and moisture to get adequate heat and water to carry out their internal processes.
Moreover, an ideal temperature and healthier nutrients are essential for their better growth, like minerals and salts.
They can reach maximum height under ideal conditions; otherwise, you can observe fluctuations in their growth pattern.
The tiny root hairs absorb moisture through wet soil and push it upward towards the stem and leave to promote their growth.
As every cell is composed of a large quantity of water, they need sufficient moisture to grow well.
As a result, it shows a spreading or clumping growth pattern that can cover the ground with thick leaves.
They can grow from seeds or regrow back to their original height if you frequently cut the protruding blades.
The stems or culms are the hollow structures that begin to originate from the crown. Similarly, the leaves start to grow from the culm in an alternate pattern.
Food production
They are the producers, unlike humans, who consume the produced food in the form of plants and meat of animals.
It can also photosynthesize like other higher plants, which leads to the production of food or carbohydrates, which are used as nutrients for plant growth.
They consume carbon dioxide through tiny holes in their leaves that are diffused deep into the leaf cells and water from roots for food production.
When the leaves capture light, chlorophyll activates, which allows the plant to use absorbed gas and water to prepare food or sugar.
Furthermore, it needs to make food to consume for its growth and maintenance.
Ability to adapt
All living things are good at adapting to environmental changes and tolerating stress. In the same way, it can resist drought conditions by bringing slight modifications to its structure.
Their leaves remain straight to absorb more sunlight when the external environment is perfect for their growth, but they roll up the green leaves when there is insufficient moisture.
In addition, they have strong roots that human interventions and flooding cannot quickly destroy as they can hold the soil efficiently.
They can regrow when animals eat the extending blades, or you cut them to reduce their size. Their root system enables them to sprout even after a severe fire on the ground.
Furthermore, their apical meristem is present under the soil surface that is not destroyed by disturbing the leaf structure.
They have many developed adaptive abilities to overcome stress as they slow down transpiration by closing stomata and storing moisture to survive for a long.
Reproduction
It can reproduce in vegetative propagation or sexually through stems and flowers.
Stolon is the stems that are close to the ground or creeping over it in contrast to rhizomes that enter deep into the ground.
Both rhizomes and stolon give rise to new culms and provide the essential nutrients to grow until they have buildup their own structure, including the root system.
In addition, flowers produce spores that can pollinate the other flowers and lead to the production of seeds. Some of the pollinated seeds turn into new plants.
You can only see stems having green blades in the lawn that covers all other parts, while other grass types, including corn, have prominent stems and leaves.
They can reproduce by self-pollination or cross-pollination method when they are incompatible with pollinating the flowers by themselves.
Ability to respire
Plants can also respire like humans, but they consume carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, while humans inhale oxygen and release CO2.
They consume carbon dioxide to use it for the photosynthetic process, and oxygen is produced as a by-product of the reaction in addition to glucose.
They can respire day and night, which helps maintain their structure, perform metabolic processes, and grow rapidly. Moreover, it helps in the uptake of essential nutrients from the soil.
In addition, their cells consume energy from sunlight and carbon dioxide through respiration to break down the food produced after photosynthesis.
Furthermore, the roots absorb air from spaces within the soil that ensure the survival of plants.
Response to stimuli
They can respond to external and internal stimuli as you can see grass with blades bending towards sunlight.
Different stimuli like water and sunlight make plants begin to grow towards them. You probably know that some plants respond to touching and closing their leaves.
In the same way, you can observe changes in its growth pattern due to touch and gravity.
Ability to interact
It can interact with the environment or other plants and animals differently. For example, a thick turf on the lawn benefits the soil and prevents erosion from flooding and water runoff.
They are good for reducing air and noise pollution by releasing oxygen into the environment. Moreover, they interact with animals by developing a mutual relationship.
It provides a rich source of food to the herbivores, which get nutrition from plants, while animals help in spreading seeds and add nutrition to the soil through their dead bodies.
How many types of grass are present?
There are 12,000 to 15,000 species of grass that are present in different regions globally according to their nature and tolerance.
They are widely divided into three types based on the seasons which promote their growth.
Summer grass
It can grow well under warm temperatures and is grown mainly in southwestern states. However, it does not remain healthier if you try to grow it in a cold environment.
It is better to choose a summer type of grass that can have lush green leaves and a thick texture. For the summer, you can select Bahia grass, Bermuda, Centipede, and Dichondra.
Bermuda grass is suitable for growing on a golf course or in high-traffic areas but requires high maintenance.
However, a centipede provides better ground coverage in a thick mat form and requires lesser effort to maintain it.
Winter grass
It is commonly present in Pacific Northwest and Northeast areas, providing a cold environment for these short plants to grow under ideal conditions.
The humid and low-temperature conditions are ideal for propagating these types of grass. The winter grasses include Fescues, Bent, and Bluegrass.
The bent grass has a soft texture and is good to grow on the lawns. However, it requires maintenance, and you have to provide a lot of nutrients for better growth and frequent mowing.
In addition, Fescues have soft blades resistant to changing temperature and appear green even in shady areas.
Transition zone grass
The transition-zone grass has better tolerance to thrive in changing weather and adapt to cold and warm temperatures.
They can grow when the temperature is high and reaches almost 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In the same way, a lower temperature does not affect their structure and remains healthier.
These include ryegrass, thermal blue, and zoysia, which can tolerate the stress of temperature without bringing noticeable changes in their morphology.
Ryegrass shows a better thickness of leaves and shiny color in warm weather, but it has to struggle more in cold weather.
Additionally, zoysia is a hardy plant that can survive in drought conditions and heavy traffic. It is a little prickly that can irritate some people, but it can stand up in high temperatures.
How to take care of the grass in your lawn?
You can improve the condition and growth rate of grass in your lawn by knowing about the soil condition like pH, nutritional deficiencies, and moisture level.
Moreover, you have to fix all the internal issues of the soil by maintaining a proper pH using lime or other fertilizers.
It is better to know about the suitable plant that can suit your region, like a warm season grass cannot survive in cold weather.
In addition, you have to provide nutrition to the lawn by providing the right amount of fertilizers. It helps them to keep your lawn full of lush green grass.
You have to remove weeds as they can start competing for moisture and nutrition.
In addition, you can use the robotic lawn mowers to cut the tall grass frequently to stimulate its growth and provide enough water to keep them moist.
Therefore, proper feeding, watering, mowing, and top dressing can keep your lawn fresh and thick.
