Botany

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Botanical)
Jump to: navigation, search
"Botanist" redirects here. A botanist is a person engaged in botany.
"Plant biology" redirects here. For the journal, see Functional Plant Biology.
For other uses, see Botany (disambiguation) and Botanic (disambiguation).
Pinguicula grandiflora commonly known as a Butterwort

Botany, plant science(s), or plant biology (from Ancient Greek βοτάνη botane, "pasture, grass, or fodder" and that from βόσκειν boskein, "to feed or to graze"), a discipline of biology, is the science of plant life.[1][2][3] Traditionally, botany included the study of fungi, algae and viruses. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines including structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and evolutionary relationships among taxonomic groups. Botany began with early human efforts to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making it one of the oldest branches of science. Today botanists study about 400,000 species of living organisms.

Contents

[edit] History

Main article: History of botany
The traditional tools of a botanist

[edit] Early botany

The history of botany begins with ancient writings on, and classifications of, plants. Such writings are found in several early cultures. Examples of early botanical works have been found in Ancient Indian sacred texts, ancient Zoroastrian writings,[4] and ancient Chinese works.

The Greco-Roman world produced a number of botanical works including Theophrastus's Historia Plantarum and Dioscorides' De Materia Medica. Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC) has been frequently referred to as the ”father of botany”.[5]

Works from the medieval Muslim world included Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī's (828-896) the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassal's The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar (d. 1248) also wrote on botany.[6][7][8]

[edit] Early modern botany

Crantz's Classis cruciformium..., 1769

German physician Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566) was one of "the three founding fathers of botany", along with Otto Brunfels (1489–1534) and Hieronymus Bock (1498–1554) (also called Hieronymus Tragus).[9][10]

Valerius Cordus (1515–1544) authored a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546.[11] Conrad von Gesner (1516–1565) and Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654) also published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants. Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) was considered the "father of natural history", which included the study of plants. In 1665, using an early microscope, Robert Hooke discovered cells, a term he coined, in cork, and a short time later in living plant tissue.[12]

During the 18th century, systems of classification became deliberately artificial and served only for the purpose of identification. These classifications are comparable to diagnostic keys, where taxa are artificially grouped in pairs by few, easily recognisable characters. The sequence of the taxa in keys is often totally unrelated to their natural or phyletic groupings. In the 18th century an increasing number of new plants had arrived in Europe, from newly discovered countries and the European colonies worldwide, and a larger amount of plants became available for study.[13]

In 1754 Carl von Linné (Carl Linnaeus) divided the plant Kingdom into 25 classes.[13] One, the Cryptogamia, included all plants with concealed reproductive parts (mosses, liverworts and ferns), and algae and fungi.[14]

The increased knowledge of anatomy, morphology and life cycles, lead to the realization that there were more natural affinities between plants, than the sexual system of Linnaeus indicated. Adanson (1763), de Jussieu (1789), and Candolle (1819) all proposed various alternative natural systems that were widely followed. The ideas of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution required adaptations to the Candollean system, which started the studies on evolutionary relationships and phylogenetic classifications of plants.[15][16]

Botany was greatly stimulated by the appearance of the first “modern” text book, Matthias Schleiden's Grundzuge der Wissenschaftlichen, published in English in 1849 as Principles of Scientific Botany.[17] Carl Willdenow examined the connection between seed dispersal and distribution, the nature of plant associations, and the impact of geological history. The cell nucleus was discovered by Robert Brown in 1831.[18]

[edit] Modern botany

A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This weedy species in the mustard family was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. The sequencing of the rice (Oryza sativa) genome, its relatively small genome, and a large international research community have made rice an important cereal/grass/monocot model.[19] Another grass species, Brachypodium distachyon is also an experimental model for understanding genetic, cellular and molecular biology.[20] Other commercially important staple foods like wheat, maize, barley, rye, pearl millet and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced. Some of these are challenging to sequence because they have more than two haploid (n) sets of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy, common in the plant kingdom. A green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is model organism that has proven important in advancing knowledge of cell biology.[21]

In 1998 the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published a phylogeny of flowering plants based on an analysis of DNA sequences from most families of flowering plants. As a result of this work, major questions such as which families represent the earliest branches in the genealogy of angiosperms are now understood. Investigating how plant species are related to each other allows botanists to better understand the process of evolution in plants.[22] Despite the study of model plants and DNA, there is continual ongoing work and discussion among taxonomists about how best to classify plants into various taxa.[23]

[edit] Scope and importance of botany

Hibiscus

As with other life forms in biology, plant life can be studied from different perspectives, from the molecular, genetic and biochemical level through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, plant populations, and communities of plants. At each of these levels a botanist might be concerned with the classification (taxonomy), structure (anatomy and morphology), or function (physiology) of plant life.[24]

Historically all living things were grouped as animals or plants,[25] and botany covered all organisms not considered animals. Some organisms included in the field of botany are no longer considered to belong to the plant (plantae) kingdom, which obtain their energy via photosynthesis, – these include bacteria (studied in bacteriology), fungi (mycology) including lichen-forming fungi (lichenology), non-chlorophyte algae (phycology) and viruses (virology). However, attention is still given to these groups by botanists, and fungi (including lichens), and photosynthetic protists are usually covered in introductory botany courses.[26]

The study of plants is vital because they are a fundamental part of life on Earth, which generates the oxygen, food, fibres, fuel and medicine that allow humans and other life forms to exist. Through photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that in large amounts can affect global climate. Just as importantly for us, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Additionally, they prevent soil erosion and are influential in the water cycle.[27] A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of human societies as it allows us to:[28]

  • Understand how crucial plants (the producers) are in supplying the world with oxygen
  • Produce food to feed an expanding population (the consumers)
  • Understand fundamental life processes
  • Produce medicine and materials to treat diseases and other ailments
  • Understand environmental changes more clearly

Paleobotanists study ancient plants in the fossil record. It is believed that early in the Earth's history, the evolution of photosynthetic plants altered the global atmosphere of the earth, changing the ancient atmosphere by oxidation.[28]

[edit] Human nutrition

Nearly all the food we eat comes (directly and indirectly) from plants, such as this American long grain rice

Virtually all foods directly or indirectly, via animals that rely on plants for nutrition, from plants.[29] Plants are the fundamental base of nearly all food chains because they use the energy from the sun and nutrients from the soil and atmosphere, converting them into a form that can be consumed and utilized by animals; this is what ecologists call the first trophic level.[30] Botanists also study how plants produce food we can eat and how to increase yields and therefore their work is important in mankind's ability to feed the world and provide food security for future generations, for example, through plant breeding. Botanists also study weeds, plants which are considered to be a nuisance in a particular location. Weeds are a considerable problem in agriculture, and botany provides some of the basic science used to understand how to minimize 'weed' impact in agriculture and native ecosystems. Ethnobotany is the study of the relationships between plants and people, and when this kind of study is turned to the investigation of plant-people relationships in past times, it is referred to as archaeobotany or paleoethnobotany.

[edit] Fundamental life processes

Botanical research has long had relevance to the understanding of fundamental biological processes other than just botany. Fundamental life processes such as cell division and protein synthesis can be studied using plants without the moral issues that come with conducting studies upon animals or humans. Gregor Mendel discovered the genetic laws of inheritance in this fashion by studying Pisum sativum (pea) inherited traits such as shape. What Mendel learned from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany. Similarly, 'jumping genes' were discovered by Barbara McClintock while she was studying maize.[31]

[edit] Medicine and materials

Many medicinal and recreational drugs, like tetrahydrocannabinol, caffeine, and nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom. Others are simple derivatives of botanical natural products; for example, aspirin is based on the pain killer salicylic acid which originally came from the bark of willow trees. As well, the narcotic analgesics such as morphine are derived from the opium poppy.[32] There may be many novel cures for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular stimulants like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, and tea also come from plants. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermenting plants such as barley (beer), rice (sake) and grapes (wine).

Plants also provide us with many natural materials, such as hemp, cotton, wood, paper, linen, vegetable oils, some types of rope, and rubber. The production of silk would not be possible without the cultivation of the mulberry plant. Sugarcane, rapeseed, soy and other plants with a highly fermentable sugar or oil content have recently been put to use as sources of biofuels, which are important alternatives to fossil fuels (see biodiesel).

[edit] Environmental changes

Plants can also help us understand changes in on our environment in many ways:

In many different ways, plants can act a little like the 'miners' canary', an early warning system alerting us to important changes in our environment. In addition to these practical and scientific reasons, plants are extremely valuable as recreation for millions of people who enjoy gardening, horticultural and culinary uses of plants every day.

[edit] Subdisciplines of botany

[edit] Notable botanists

Further information: List of botanists
Sculpture of Ibn al-Baitar among trees, Benalmádena, Málaga, Spain
  • Theophrastus (c. 371–c. 287 BC), "The Father of Botany", established botanical science through his lecture notes, Enquiry into Plants.
  • Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90 AD), Greek physician, pharmacologist, toxicologist and botanist, author of De Materia Medica (Regarding Medical Matters).
  • Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī (828-896), Persian botanist, historian, geographer, astronomer, mathematician, and founder of Arabic botany.
  • Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati (c. 1200), Andalusian-Arab botanist and agricultural scientist, and a pioneer in experimental botany.
  • Ibn al-Baitar (1197-1248), Andalusian-Arab scientist, botanist, pharmacist, physician, and author of one of the largest botanical encyclopedias.
  • Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian polymath; a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer.
  • Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of Binomial nomenclature; known as the father of modern taxonomy and also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology.
  • Aimé Bonpland (1773–1858), French explorer and botanist, who accompanied Alexander von Humboldt during five years of travel in Latin America.
  • Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1778–1841), Swiss botanist, originated the idea of "Nature's war", which influenced Charles Darwin.
  • David Douglas (1799–1834), Scottish botanical explorer of North America and China, who imported many ornamental plants into Europe.
  • Richard Spruce (1817–1893), English botanist and explorer who carried out a detailed study of the Amazon flora.
  • Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911), English botanist and explorer; second winner of Darwin Medal.
  • Gregor Johann Mendel (1822–1884), Austrian Augustinian priest and scientist, and is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants.
  • Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895), English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution; third winner of Darwin Medal.
  • Charles Sprague Sargent (1841–1927), American botanist, the first director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University.
  • Agustín Stahl (1842–1917), Puerto Rican doctor, who conducted investigations and experiments in the fields of botany, ethnology, and zoology in the Caribbean region.
  • Luther Burbank (1849–1926), American botanist, horticulturist, and a pioneer in agricultural science.
  • George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. (1906–2000), American widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century, developed a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics.
  • Carlos Muñoz Pizarro (1913–1976), Chilean botanist, known for his studies of the Chilean flora, and its conservation.
  • Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001), American botanist and explorer, known as "The Father of Ethnobotany", Linnean Society gold medal winner.

[edit] See also

Portal icon Biology portal
Portal icon Ecology portal
Main article: Outline of botany

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Liddell & Scott 1940.
  2. ^ Gordh & Headrick 2001, p. 134.
  3. ^ Online Etymology Dictionary 2012.
  4. ^ Iyer 2009, p. 117.
  5. ^ Grene & Depew 2004, p. 11.
  6. ^ Dallal 2010, p. 197.
  7. ^ Panaino 2002, p. 93.
  8. ^ Levey 1973, p. 116.
  9. ^ National Museum of Wales 2007.
  10. ^ Yaniv & Bachrach 2005, p. 157.
  11. ^ Sprague 1939.
  12. ^ Waggoner 2001.
  13. ^ a b Capon 2005, pp. 220-223.
  14. ^ Hoek, Mann & Jahns 2005, p. 9.
  15. ^ Ereshefsky 1997, pp. 493-519.
  16. ^ Gray & Sargent 1889, pp. 292–293.
  17. ^ Morton 1981, p. 377.
  18. ^ Harris 1999, pp. 76-81.
  19. ^ Devos & Gale 2000.
  20. ^ University of California-Davis n.d..
  21. ^ Ben-Menahem 2009, p. 5370.
  22. ^ Chase et al. 2003, pp. 399–436.
  23. ^ Capon 2005, p. 223.
  24. ^ Addis Ababa University n.d..
  25. ^ Chapman et al. 2001, p. 56.
  26. ^ Capon 2005, pp. 10-11.
  27. ^ Gust 1996.
  28. ^ a b Abdul Wali Khan University n.d..
  29. ^ Ben-Menahem 2009, pp. 5367-5368.
  30. ^ Butz 2004, pp. 534-553.
  31. ^ Ben-Menahem 2009, p. 5369.
  32. ^ Mann 1987, pp. 186-87.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Web-based

[edit] Books & journals

[edit] Popular science

[edit] Academic and scientific

Environmental botany
  • Crawley, Michael J. (1997). Plant Ecology (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Ltd. ISBN 0632036397. 
  • Ennos, Roland; Sheffield, Elizabeth (2000). Plant Life. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Ltd. ISBN 0865427372. 
  • Everitt; Lonard; Little, C. R. (2007). Weeds in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Lubbock, TX: Texas Tech University Press. ISBN 0896726142. 
  • Richards, P. W. (1996). The Tropical Rainforest (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521421942. 
  • Stace, Clive Anthony (1997). A New Flora of the British Isles (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521589355. 
Plant physiology
  • Bowsher, Caroline G.; Steer, M. W.; Tobin, A. K. (2008). Plant Biochemistry (2nd ed.). New York: Garland Science, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0815341210. 
  • Buchanan, Bob B.; Gruissem, Wilhelm; Jones, Russell L. (2000). Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0943088399. 
  • Fitter, Alastair H.; Hay, Robert K. M. (2001). Environmental Physiology of Plants (3rd ed.). New York: Harcourt Publishers, Academic Press. ISBN 0122577663. 
  • Lambers, Hans; Chapin III, Francis Stuart; Pons, Thijs Leendert (1998). Plant Physiological Ecology. New York: Springer Science. ISBN 0387983260. 
  • Lawlor, David W. (2000). Photosynthesis (3rd ed.). New York: Garland Science. ISBN 1859961576. 
  • Salisbury; Ross, Cleon W. (1992). Plant Physiology (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0534151620. 
  • Taiz, Lincoln; Zeiger, Eduardo (1991). Plant Physiology. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing. ISBN 080530245X. 
    • Taiz, Lincoln; Zeiger, Eduardo (2002). Plant Physiology (3rd ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0878938230. 
    • Taiz, Lincoln; Zeiger, Eduardo (2006). Plant Physiology (4th ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0878938567. 
    • Taiz, Lincoln; Zeiger, Eduardor (2010). Plant Physiology (5th ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0878938664. 

[edit] External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Botany
At Wikiversity you can learn more and teach others about Botany at:


Subdisciplines of Biology
Biology organism collage.png
Hierarchy of Life
Foundations of Biology
Principles of Evolution
Principles of Ecology
Principles of Molecular Biology
Principles of Biochemistry
Glossaries
Botany
Subdisciplines of botany
1859-Martinique.web.jpg
Plants
Plant parts
Plant cells
Plant reproduction
Plant taxonomy
Glossaries
Fields and disciplines
Theophrastus
Institutions
Publications
Historia Plantarum of Theophrastus and Causes of Plants c. 200 BC · Materia Medica c. 60 AD · Naturalis Historia 77-79 AD · Herbarum Vivae Icones 1530 · Libellus De Re Herbaria Novus 1538 · Kreutterbuch 1539 · Historia Plantarum of John Ray 1561-1563 · De Plantis 1583 · Stirpium Historiae 1583 · Prodromus Theatrici Botanici 1620 · Pinax 1623 · Anatome Plantarum 1675 · Anatomy of Plants 1682 · Historia Plantarum 1682–1704 · De Sexu Plantarum Epistola 1694 · Vegetable Staticks 1727 · Systema Naturae 1735 · Genera Plantarum 1737 · Philosophia Botanica 1751 · Species Plantarum 1753 · Familles des Plantes 1763-4 · Experiments Upon Vegetables 1779 · Die Metamorphose der Pflantzen 1790 · Traité d'Anatomie et de Physiologie Végétale 1802 · Recherches Chimiques sur la Végétation 1804 · Beyträge zur Anatomie der Pflanzen 1812 · Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1824-1841 · Die Vegetabilische Zelle 1851 · Vergleichende Untersuchungen 1851 · On the Origin of Species 1859 · Experiments on Plant Hybridization 1862 · Die Vegetation der Erde 1872 · Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1873 · Plantesamfund 1895 · Pflanzengeographie auf Physiologischer Grundlage 1898 · Variation and Evolution in Plants 1950 · Ontogeny and Phylogeny 1977 · An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants 1981
Theories and concepts
Influential figures
Theophrastus c. 371 – c. 287 BC · Pliny the Elder 23–79 AD · Pedanius Dioscorides c. 40-90 AD · Otto Brunfels 1464-1534 · Hieronymus Bock 1498-1554 · Valerius Cordus 1515-1544 · William Turner 1515-1568 · Rembert Dodoens 1517-1585 · Andrea Cesalpino 1519-1603 · Gaspard Bauhin 1560–1624 · Joachim Jungius 1587–1657 · John Ray 1623–1705 · Nehemiah Grew 1628–1711 · Marcello Malpighi 1628–1694 · Joseph Pitton de Tournefort 1656–1708 · Rudolf Jakob Camerarius 1665–1721 · Stephen Hales 1677–1761 · Bernard de Jussieu 1699–1777 · Carolus Linnaeus 1707–1778 · Michel Adanson 1727–1806 · Jan Ingenhousz 1730–1799 · Joseph Banks 1743–1820 · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832 · Carl Ludwig Willdenow 1765–1812 · Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure 1767–1845 · Alexander von Humboldt 1769–1859 · Aimé Bonpland 1773–1858 · Joakim Frederik Schouw 1789–1852 · Matthias Jakob Schleiden 1804–1881 · Alexander Braun 1805–1877 · Asa Gray 1810–1888 · August Grisebach 1814–1879 · Joseph Hooker 1817–1911 · Gregor Mendel 1822–1884 · Nathanael Pringsheim 1823–1894 · Wilhelm Hofmeister 1824–1877 · Julius von Sachs 1832–1897 · Eugenius Warming 1841–1924 · William Gilson Farlow 1844–1919 · Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper 1856–1901 · Nikolai Vavilov 1887–1943 · G. Ledyard Stebbins 1906–2000 · Eugene Odum 1913–2002 · Arthur Cronquist 1919–1992
Related topics

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Botany&oldid=479591654"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages