Edit for clarity:
Grass and maple leaves will not be digested. Cabbage and basil will be and they are good for you. What makes some plants’ leaves special?
In: Biology
It mostly depends on how much energy, nutrients, and water are stored in the leaves of a plant. Common grasses put a lot of energy into growing tall and a lot of energy into growing seeds, so your grass clippings are mostly going to contain cellulose, which is also known as dietary fiber. It’s a similar thing with most trees. Most of the nutrients and flavor compounds in trees are stored in the bark or the sap, and the leaves are just used for function like gas exchange, photosynthesis, and hydration. Basil leaves also don’t have a ton of nutrients, but there are a lot of aromatic compounds in them that were originally meant to be poisonous or disgusting to insects that might eat them that we as a species have largely come to enjoy the taste of. Cabbages, lettuces, and other leafy greens store a lot of their nutrients and water in their leaves, although iceberg lettuce is almost all water and no nutrients. IIRC, there is some evidence to suggest that there are health benefits from chlorophyll, so if you’re ever in a situation where you don’t have access to nutrient dense vegetables, making a tea from non toxic grass, leaves, and pine needles might help you. And there’s also lemongrass, which is a type of grass that’s used as an herb and used to make beverages in certain cultures.
Some taste to bad, others are poisonous,undigestble or allergic to humans.
All of these make up the majority of plants,that exist.
The ones we eat are all farmed to be made edible to us.
Type wild ______ and search the fruit/plant name to see how much we change plants to suit our needs.
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