Hi! I’m Alexis, and this is Crash Course Botany - the study of plants which I’ve been doing since the first time I laid my little baby hands on a leaf and shoved it into my mouth.
Plants are essential to our survival and just really freaking cool. All around us plants are gossiping and chemical whispers, passing notes through underground roots about potential predators that linger nearby or how cool it would be if they all coordinated so an entire orchard ripened in unison. Plants are also reacting, growing and moving in response to gravity, touch and light. They’re even fighting back against predators!
Over the next 15 episodes, I can’t wait to show you the rich, dramatic world of plants that unfolds all around us. We’ll explore what separates plants from other living things and what we have in common, uncover how plants work from their itsy bitsy cells to their water absorbing roots, and learn how the very first plants evolved. We’ll also see how changes in genes across millennia sparked the wild kaleidoscope of plant life, and how people have manipulated plants genes in increasingly precise ways.
Along the way we’ll learn why plants are such a life-giving ecosystem, powering society and shaping big deals. We’ll also introduce you to some amazing stories of discovery to see how botanical knowledge has shaped and continues to shape our world.
So join us and get ready - you won’t believe what secrets plants are hiding!
If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever, you can join our community on Patreon. Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Botany, which was filmed at the Dimir Farisa Witch Studio and made in partnership with PBS Digital Studios and Nature.