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Last broadcast on Sun, 30 Oct 2011, 01:50 on BBC Four (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Plants' solutions to life's challenges are as ingenious and manipulative as any animal's.
Innovative time-lapse photography opens up a parallel world where plants act like fly-paper, or spring-loaded traps, to catch insects. Vines develop suckers and claws to haul themselves into the rainforest canopy. Every peculiar shape proves to have a clever purpose. The dragon's blood tree is like an upturned umbrella to capture mist and shade its roots. The seed of a Bornean tree has wings so aerodynamic they inspired the design of early gliders. The barrel-shaped desert rose is full of water. The heliconia plant even enslaves a humming bird and turns it into an addict for its nectar.
Clips (9)
Great Basin bristlecone pine
Great Basin bristlecone pines are some of the oldest living organisms on the planet. They grow extremely slowly and survive in very harsh and challenging environments.
Wildlife Finder: find out how these trees can live for so long
Sundews
Sundews are a group of plants that eat insects to supplement the limited amount of nutrients they can extract from the soil.
Venus flytrap
The Venus flytrap is a popular houseplant that is native to the wetlands of the eastern United States. It is a carnivorous plant that traps its prey by a time and touch sensitive mechanism.
Wildlife Finder: watch timelapse footage of a Venus flytrap in action
Dragon's blood tree
The dragon's blood tree gets its name from the red resin that it exudes from its bark after wounding. The resin is used in medicine, dyes, varnish and incense.
Wildlife Finder: discover how this plant survives in its arrid habitat
Chapters
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Chapter 1
Opening Titles
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Chapter 2
Introduction to Trees
A quick look at the various traits of trees, including fast growth and the ability to survive for thousands of years.
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Chapter 3
Obtaining Nutrients
Rather than wait for the sunlight to come to them, some plants climb their way towards it; whilst the air-plant has a resourceful way of soaking up water and gathering nutrients.
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Chapter 4
Trapped
The sundew attracts its prey with its sweet smell, whilst the Venus fly trap has an occasional truce with its target in order to be pollinated.
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Chapter 5
Offspring
Flowers enable plants to reproduce; this comes easily for the Sunflower, which gets some help from pollinating bees, but the Richea Honey Bush is a lot more delicate.
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Chapter 6
Plants vs. Pollinators
The Sandhill milkweed puts up with a caterpillar onslaught in order to achieve pollination, and the Heliconia rations its nectar to the hummingbird so it returns for more.
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Chapter 7
Spreading the Seed
Before death, the Brunsvigia uses the wind to spread its seeds, the Alsomitra seeds glide far away from the pod, and the seeds from a Saguaro cactus are taken by a variety of creatures.
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Chapter 8
Harsh Conditions
The Dragons Blood Tree manages to live during a brutal dry season in Socotra and the Red Mangrove survives in deadly salt water.
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Chapter 9
Harsh Conditions: Part 2
With autumn and winter on the horizon, the broad-leafed tree uses its resources to make sure it can hold on for five months, whilst the pine survives harsher temperatures in western America.
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Chapter 10
Spring
After the conditions of the previous months, life starts to grow again. This includes two particular types of plants which help the human world function: grass and wheat.
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Chapter 11
Life on Location – Time Warp
An in-depth look at how the film makers employed various techniques in order to capture plants at their best.
Credits
- Narrator
- David Attenborough
- Producer
- Neil Lucas
- Executive Producer
- Michael Gunton
Broadcasts
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Mon 7 Dec 200921:00
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Mon 7 Dec 200921:00
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Mon 7 Dec 200922:35
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Tue 8 Dec 200920:00
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Sun 13 Dec 200917:30
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Sun 13 Dec 200917:30
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Fri 18 Dec 200900:30
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Tue 22 Dec 200900:40
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Sat 10 Apr 201019:00
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Thu 10 Jun 201000:00
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Sat 4 Dec 201019:00
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Sat 29 Oct 201119:00
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Sat 29 Oct 201123:25
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Sun 30 Oct 201101:50
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