Download Grocery Store Botany

Outreach Education Program is offered by MUN Botanical Garden
This program is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) PromoScience Funding Program.
Grocery Store Botany
At MUN Botanical Garden, we try to present botanical knowledge in ways that appeal to children. Through
a discussion of the food we eat, we can discuss botany. Everything that we eat comes from plants in one
way or another; when we eat meat, we eat animals which feed on plants.
One way to discuss botany is by having students analyse what they are eating for their snack or their lunch.
For example, if they have a chocolate chip cookie, what plants and plant parts are they eating? Flour comes
from wheat (usually), which is the seed of the wheat plant. Sugar usually comes from either sugar cane (the
sap of this grass plant is very high in sucrose) or sugar beet (this is a variety of Beta vulgaris; other varieties
include the familiar root vegetable beet or beetroot and the leafy chard). Chocolate comes from the seed
of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), and may also include sugar and milk. If the cookie contains eggs and
milk, remember that while these are animal-based foods, animals need to eat plants to survive!
Some foods may be obviously plant-based (e.g., broccoli spears or carrot sticks) but it may not be obvious
what part of the plant we are eating. Broccoli is a familiar vegetable, but many people are surprised to
learn that the part we eat is actually the immature flowerhead! When teaching parts of the plant, it may
be helpful to refer to common foods. Carrots, beets and turnips are all root vegetables, but the potato is
not. Potatoes are actually modified underground stems. Ginger and turmeric also come from modified
underground stems, not actual roots. Asparagus is another common vegetable of which we eat the stem.
It is often thought that we eat the stem of the celery plant, but it is actually the petiole, or leaf stalk. Many
different types of plant leaves are part of our diets. We eat lettuce, spinach and other leaves in salads,
steam or boil vegetables such as cabbage, kale and endive. Even the onion bulb (garlic too!) is actually the
swollen bases of the leaves we see above ground.
Fruit and seeds comprise a large part of our diets. Botanically speaking, a fruit is a part of a flowering plant
that develops from the ovaries of the plant. More broadly, a fruit is the structure of the plant which
contains its seeds, which means that bean and pea pods, tomatoes, and avocadoes can all be considered
fruits. Seeds, especially wheat, rice, corn and other grains, are an extremely important part of our food
supply.
Education staff will continue to develop and expand the Grocery Store Botany program so it can be applied
across the curriculum, K-12. Through our winter outreach program, we have presented this program with
the Three Cheers for Composting Program and to date, have successfully incorporated it into the level 3
soils and plant sections of the Newfoundland and Labrador science curriculum.
ROOT
STEM
LEAF
FLOWER
FRUIT
SEEDS
SEEDLINGS
Beet
Carrot
Cassava root
(tapioca)
Chicory
Jerusalem
artichoke
(sunchoke)
Licorice
Parsnip
Radish
Rutabaga
Sweet potato
Sugar beet sugar
Turnip
Yam
Asparagus
Bamboo shoots
Cinnamon (bark)
Broccoli (stem)
Kohlrabi
Beet top
Brussels sprouts (axillary
bud)
Cabbage (bud)
Chinese cabbage
Collards
Dandelion
Endive
Garlic (bud)
Kale
Lettuce
Onion bulb (bud)
Spinach
Swiss chard
Watercress
Artichoke (bud)
Broccoli (immature)
Capers (bud)
Cauliflower
(immature)
Cloves
Jasmine (for tea)
Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Bean pod
Blackberry
Blueberry
Cantaloupe
Cherry
Chile peppers
Cucumber (pickle)
Date
Ear of corn
Eggplant
Fig
Grape (raisin)
Grapefruit
Green bean
Green peppers
Lemon
Lime
Olive
Orange
Pea pod
Peach
Pear
Persimmon
Pineapple
Okra
Plum (prune)
Pumpkin
Raspberry
Squash
Tangerine
Tomato
Watermelon
Almond
Brazil nut
Cashew
Coconut
Pine nuts
Pistachio
Sunflower
Walnut
Alfalfa
sprouts
Bean sprouts
Cress
Other:
Bark of the root Sassafras
(Root beer)
Underground stem:
Ginger (rhizome)
Potato (stolon)
Turmeric (rhizome)
Other:
Sap of stem Grass plant
(Sugar cane)
Maple sap
(Maple syrup)
Herbs/flavours:
Basil
Bay leaf
Chicory
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Marjoram
Oregano
Parsley
Peppermint
Rosemary
Sage
Savoury
Spearmint
Thyme
Beverages:
Tea
Yerba maté
Petiole (leaf stalk):
Celery
Rhubarb
Grass plants:
Barley
Corn
Oat
Rice
Wheat
Spices:
Aniseed
Caraway
Cardamom
Peppercorn
(Black pepper)
Vanilla
(fruit of orchid)
Grass kernels
Barley
Corn
Oats
Rye
Wheat
Legumes
Green bean
Kidney bean
Lima bean
Pea
Pinto bean
Peanut
True nuts1
Beech nut
Chestnut
Hazelnut
Spices
Coriander
Dill seed
Mustard seed
Nutmeg
Mace (aril covering
nutmeg seed)
Poppy seed
Sesame seed
Beverages:
Cacao seeds
(chocolate)
Coffee beans
(coffee)
Cola nuts
(cola drinks)
MUN Botanical Garden’s From Garden To Classroom Outreach Program is supported by PromoScience funding program.
1
A nut in botany is a simple dry fruit with one seed (rarely two) in which the ovary wall becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity, and where the seed
remains attached or fused with the ovary wall.
Your Feedback is Welcome.
”From Garden to Classroom” outreach program incorporates environmental stewardship practices which have been promoted and used at
MUN Botanical Garden since its inception in 1971. The Garden’s education programs are the basis for many of these outreach activities. We
hope the “From Garden to Classroom” outreach program will provide a unique opportunity to engage young people in hands-on activities,
which may encourage proactive attitudes and behaviours in areas of environmental protection, conservation and enhancement. The hands-on
activities are curriculum-designed; while all programs supplement the science curriculum, we encourage teachers to make connections to other
subject areas. Feedback, stories and suggestions are always welcome and are an integral part of the development of this education program.
Comments may be forwarded to Anne Madden, education coordinator, MUN Botanical Garden ([email protected]).