DK's best-selling, richly illustrated encyclopedia series explores the wonderful world of plants and fungiThe ultimate nature book for children, this plant encyclopedia has everything from cacti and carnivorous plants to trees, flowers, and mushrooms.Why are flowers colorful and fruits sweet? How does a carnivorous plant kill its prey? Why do stinging nettles sting? How do trees turn light into food?Knowledge Encyclopedia: Plants and Fungi tells you everything you need to know about plants and fungi by showing you how they work with beautiful illustrations. Peer inside a leaf, watch a seed sprout, follow a root underground, and see how a flower becomes a fruit.Life on Earth couldn't exist without plants and fungi. Plants create the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe. They regulate the climate, provide habitats for animals, and produce sustainable resources that we can use to make books, clothes, furniture, and houses. Fungi are just as important. They are nature's great recyclers, turning the living world's leftovers into essential nutrients that plants and animals can use again. Knowledge Encyclopedia: Plants and Fungi shows how plants and fungi form the foundations of every ecosystem, making our planet habitable.Every page is packed with incredible facts and statistics. Did you know that the oldest living tree is older than the pyramids? Or that the world's largest organism is a fungus as big as 1,600 football fields? Or that some fungi can take over the brains of insects and turn them into zombies? Or that some plants use the smell of poo to attract pollinating insects?Part of DK's hugely successful Knowledge Encyclopedia series, this is the perfect accompaniment to the school curriculum and an essential addition to every family library.