Plants particularly angiosperms are the source of food, shelter, clothing, medicine etc., directly or indirectly. Various plant products such as cereals, pulses, wood, fibers, oils, drugs, spices, beverages etc. are the sources of income to the nation.
Fallowing are the some important uses of angiosperms
1. Source of food: Cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, barley, oat, etc., pulses such as gram, pigeon pea, pea, soya bean, black gram, green gram, etc.; vegetables such as potato, tomato, carrot, cauliflower, cabbage etc., fruits such as apple, mango, banana; nuts such as cashew, almond, walnut etc. are source of food.
2. Edible oils: Flowering plants are the main source of edible oil used for cooking. Ground nut, sunflower; coconut, mustard etc. are the sources of edible oils.
3. Spices: Coriander, chilies; cloves, cinnamon, pepper; etc. are the flowering plants. The various part of these plants are used as spice all over the world.
4. Beverages: Tea; coffee and cocoa are the flowering plants where various parts are used as beverages.
5. Medicines: Ayurvedic system of medicines utilizes many flowering plants for the treatment of various diseases, Some of the important medicinal plants are Vinca rosea; Sarpagandha, ashwagandha; belladona etc., Angiosperms are also used in Siddha and Unani system of medicine for the treatment of diseases.
6. Timber: Most of the angiosperms, particularly dicot trees yield valuable hard wood which is used as timber for the production of furniture's. The important timber yielding plants are- teak, sal; Oak; rose wood; sandal wood etc.
7. Fibers: The various flowering plants are source of different qualities of fibers e.g., textile fibers are obtained from cotton; Rough fibers are obtained from flax, hemp; sunn hemp, etc.; husk of unripe coconut are used for making threads, ropes, gunny bags, carpets, etc.
8. Many other plants are grown for their vegetables, fruits, rubber, tobacco, volatile oils etc., Sugar is obtained from sugar cane and sugar beet. A large number of plants are grown as ornamentals in the gardens.