Dear friends,
I can not tell the happiness by reading this tread.
I am sure, that there some infos in the suttas. The higher teachings are given to monks, maybe the monk rules are useful:
The living beings are often in the rules of the vinaya like in house building or monastery building.
"bhūtagāmapātabyatāya, pācittiyaṃ."
Not to destroy plants. If a bhikkhu destroys or causes someone else to destroy plants that already reached their growing stage or completed their growth, he commits a pācittiya.
However, a bhikkhu who destroys a germ (root, stem, joint, bud or a seed) commits a fault but not a pācittiya. Concerning moss, being neither endowed of a bud, nor of leaves, it is considered as a germ. If, at the same time a root or a bud have grown out, it is already considered as a plant (or tree). By destroying a plant (or a tree), a bhikkhu commits the pācittiya 11. If a bhikkhu accidentally destroys small plants, he does not commit any fault.
Offering of fruits
In order to consume one of these plants or seeds (fruits and vegetables containing edible grains, roots, leaves, sugar cane, etc.), the vinaya foresees a way to make them permitted. There are three ways to make a fruit (or another plant) authorised:
1. Notch done with a nail.
2. Marking by means of fire (or by cooking, etc.)
3. Cutting with a knife.
In order to make the fruit permitted, a kappiya (hence the term), layman or sāmaṇera, by touching a fruit (or another plant) must first of all announce to a bhikkhu that this fruit is authorised and only after (or at the same time), he damages it by marking it with fire, a scratch with a nail, or even by peeling and by completely cutting it into slices, but this fruit should at least have a small notch (or a burn). If the fruit is cut before announcing that it is authorised, it is suggested to renotch it after this announcement.
Once the fruit is allowed, the kappiya offers it to the bhikkhu who must receive it (touching from the base) whilst the kappiya holds it, or else, by receiving it in the container in which it is, or perhaps on the table on which it is served.
When a bhikkhu is offered a non authorised fruit, he can request a kappiya to make it authorised by pronouncing the adequate formula, in pāḷi or in another language...
"kappiyaṃ karohi."
Please make this fruit authorised", "Could you make that this fruit become consumable", etc.
Before damaging the fruit (or by damaging it), the kappiya pronounces the adequate formula whether in pāḷi, or else in another language...
"kappiyaṃ bhante."
"Now being authorised, Venerable" or "You can eat it" or "It is ready to be consumed", etc.
If the fruits fit to be authorised are in large quantity, it is just sufficient to gather them in such a way that they all touch each other. Afterwards, by damaging one of these fruits, all the others are also made authorised.
If a non autorized fruit must be ground before being offered, as a matter of convenience, it is preferable that it is made authorised before grinding.
Once a fruit is made authorised, it remains as such forever. If an authorised fruit being offered to a bhikkhu is not eaten and the bhikkhu on purpose forsook it, this fruit can be re-offered to such or another bhikkhu another day. To that end, it doesn't need to be authorised a second time.
The fruits that need to be authorised by a kappiya are all those that contain edible seeds (strawberries, fresh peanuts, tomatoes...) or that can be damaged (grape, mandarins...) The cooked fruits in which the seeds are eaten no longer need to be authorised by a kappiya given the fact that the seeds are no longer fertile. The same applies to fruits whose seeds or grains are too young to be fertile.
The roots fit to give birth to a plant need a kappiya so as to be authorised (ginger, radish, carrots...)
The uncooked cereals also need a kappiya in order to be authorised (corn, wheat, millet, sunflower...)
even respect
"na harite agilāno uccāraṃ vā passāvaṃ vā kheḷaṃ vā karissāmīti sikkhā karaṇīyā."
Not to defecate, urinate, or spit on the grass or on green plants (unless a medical reason prevents doing otherwise). If a bhikkhu is in a place completely covered by vegetation, he must find an area where the grass is dry to do his needs.
http://en.dhammadana.org/sangha/vinaya/227.htm
I am sure, if somebody knows the original suttas where the rules are taken from, we will find more