Important Uses of Seed Plants

• Seed plants provide rich resources for foods and medicines. David Cordner/Photodisc/Getty Images

  Seed plants appear as the most evolved species within the plant kingdom. Seed-borne species represent an evolutionary development within the plant world that brought about widespread changes within the Earth's ecosystems and climate conditions. Plants exist as primary resources within the food chain and find a myriad of uses within the agricultural and manufacturing industries.

Environmental Uses

• Plant evolution processes enabled plants to mover from water-based to land-soil environments. These changes provided the means for seed plants to evolve as a species. According to Kimball's Biology Pages, over 240,000 species of seed plants exist today, which represents the largest number of species within the plant kingdom. These plants are known for their ability to reproduce and adapt within different environments, which accounts for the diversity of terrains in existence, some of which include forests, woodlands and grasslands. According to Florida State University, plant photosynthesis processes enable plants to produce the oxygen that keeps animals and humans alive, while removing excess carbon dioxide gases from the Earth's atmosphere. In effect, all living organisms depend on seed plants for survival in one way or another.

Agricultural Uses

• Approximately 3,000 different plant species are used as food for human consumption. Of these 3,000 species, only 20 provide 90 percent of the world's food supply, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation's reference site. Rice, wheat and corn are the most abundant sources of food plants in the world. Wheat and barley were the first foods cultivated at the start of the agricultural industry some 10,000 years ago. By producing their seeds in accessible places, such as on stalks and vines, seed plants provided an abundant resource for agricultural methods to develop. Species that produced the most accessible seeds became dominant as a result of agricultural preferences for certain genetically determined traits, such as seed stalks that kept seed structures intact as opposed to those that dispersed in the wind. According to the Science Encyclopedia, ongoing developments in seed cultivation also influenced the development of human cultures as food production methods played a central role in a culture's way of life.

Manufacturing Uses

• The physical makeup of different seed plant species provides the raw materials for manufacturing products such as clothing, wood, paper, and fuel, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. Within the world of medicine, 80 percent of all drugs used are derived from plant forms, while plant chemicals appear as ingredients within 20 percent of prescriptions written in the United States every year. As a raw material for manufacturing clothing, plant cells and tissues are made up of a strong, resilient material known as cellulose. Cellulose appears as a fibrous material, which accounts for its widespread use within the clothing industry, according to Infoplease, a general reference site. Paper uses for plants rely on soft wood materials produced by trees. Paper manufacturers use a series of chemical processes to transform wood bark into the different colors and textures of paper available.