Have fun eating air.
Source: grist.org
GR: The title is just a bit misleading. Unlike most animals, plants can lose parts with minimal harm. I doubt if a Bermuda grass clone is too concerned when my friend Moe eats a few leaves. The plant simply grows new ones. Moreover, many plants drop fruit in hopes that a consumer will distribute the seeds. Since most seeds fail to reach safe germination sites, plants always produce extra. It’s okay to eat some. If all the seeds germinated, the originating species might drive its neighbors extinct.
But here’s the hard part: We have to know a lot about plants if we want to consume them safely. We need to know how many leaves and seeds should go to our animal friends, and we have to know how many leaves should become soil mulch, and how many seeds need to germinate to maintain a healthy parent plant population. We don’t know much of this stuff.
