These are stored in plant tissues and are an essential part of the diet of animals that eat plants. Plants help form, enrich, and stabilize soil. The crusty, gray-green lichens and hearty mosses help break down and crumble rock into soil. The roots of herbs and trees also contribute to this process. Leaves and other decaying plant material increase the fertility of soil.
Plant roots stabilize soil and prevent erosion.
Through the ages, people have found that certain plants relieve their aches and pains. Most medicine men and physicians in ancient cultures were experts on plants. In fact, the study of botany in Europe and America had its beginnings in medicine, when doctors searched for herbs to cure disease. The purple Thistle is a ntional emblem for this country. Blackberry grows everywhere on the Mendocino Coast.