Portal:Plants

• Wikipedia portals:
• Culture
• Geography
• Health
• History
• Mathematics
• Natural sciences
• People
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Society
• Technology

edit   The Plants Portal Plants are a major group of life forms and include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, shrubs, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. About 350,000 species of plants, defined as seed plants, bryophytes, ferns and fern allies, are estimated to exist currently. As of 2004, some 287,655 species had been identified, of which 258,650 are flowering and 15,000 bryophytes. Green plants, sometimes called metaphytes, obtain most of their energy from sunlight via a process called photosynthesis. Aristotle divided all living things between plants (which generally do not move), and animals (which often are mobile to catch their food). In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts, both technical and popular. Indeed, an attempt to perfectly match "plant" with a single taxon is problematic, because for most people the term plant is only vaguely related to the phylogenic concepts on which modern taxonomy and systematics are based. edit   Selected article Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. The flower has three stigmas, which are the distal ends of the plant's carpels. Together with its style, the stalk connecting the stigmas to the rest of the plant, these components are often dried and used in cooking as a seasoning and colouring agent. Saffron, which has for decades been the world's most expensive spice by weight, is native to Southwest Asia. Saffron is characterised by a bitter taste and an iodoform- or hay-like fragrance; these are caused by the chemicals picrocrocin and safranal. It also contains a carotenoid dye, crocin, that gives food a rich golden-yellow hue. These traits make saffron a much-sought ingredient in many foods worldwide. Saffron also has medicinal applications. The domesticated saffron crocus C. sativus is an autumn-flowering perennial plant unknown in the wild, and is a sterile triploid mutant of the eastern Mediterranean autumn-flowering Crocus cartwrightianus. According to botanical research, C. cartwrightianus originated in Crete, not—as was once generally believed—in Central Asia. The saffron crocus resulted when C. cartwrightianus was subjected to extensive artificial selection by growers who desired elongated stigmas. Being sterile, the saffron crocus's purple flowers fail to produce viable seeds—thus, reproduction is dependent on human assistance: the corms (underground bulb-like starch-storing organs) must be manually dug up, broken apart, and replanted. A corm survives for only one season, reproducing via division into up to ten "cormlets" that eventually give rise to new plants. The corms are small brown globules up to 4.5 centimetres (1.8 in) in diameter and are shrouded in a dense mat of parallel fibers. edit   Selected picture Hypericum calycinum is a prostrate or low-growing shrub species of the genus Hypericum (Hypericaceae), indigenous to southeast Europe and southwest Asia. It is a low, creeping, woody shrub to about 1 m tall and 1–2 m wide. The solitary flowers are 3–5 cm in diameter, a rich yellow, with five petals and numerous yellow stamens. edit   Categories ► Plants edit   Related topics Biosphere • Botany • Evolutionary history of plants • Flower • Forest • Fruit • Garden • Gardening • Greenhouse • Houseplant • List of poisonous plants • Paleobotany • Photosynthesis • Plant cell • Plant defense against herbivory • Plant perception (paranormal) • Plant perception (physiology) • Rapid plant movement • Tree • Vegetable • Vegetation • Phytopathology edit   Did you know... ... that after the two endangered varieties of Erigeron maguirei (Maguire daisy or Maguire's fleabane) were combined into the one species due to genetic indistinction, it was no longer considered endangered? ... that the foliage of the Acacia binervia (coast myall) can produce cyanide when cut? ... that the Mimulus gemmiparus (Rocky Mountain monkeyflower) rarely produces flowers outside of a greenhouse? ... that a field study conducted in Beaconsfield Upper found that the Ranunculus lappaceus (Australian buttercup) had flowered 78 days earlier in 2006 than it had in 1983? ... that Castilleja christii (Christ's Indian paintbrush) is one of Idaho's rarest plants? edit   Tasks you can do Here are some tasks you can do: Describe all families, genera and species of the kingdom Plantae. For species, describe botanical properties, distribution, multiplication, usage (medicine, food, etc.), botanical history, cultivation information. Develop and implement a robust method of naming plant article for the ease of navigation and searching for Wikipedia users. Maintain Category:Plants and its subcategories. Plant articles needing attention Plant articles needing expert attention Plant articles needing a taxobox Unidentified plant images - Unidentified plants on Commons Missing encyclopedic articles about Botany. Missing encyclopedic articles in Hotlist of Plants Requested articles about plants (botany) New article announcements — bot-assisted edit   WikiProjects WikiProject Science. WikiProject Biology WikiProject Tree of Life WikiProject Plants WikiProject Algae WikiProject Banksia WikiProject Carnivorous plants WikiProject Horticulture and Gardening edit   Related portals Agriculture and Agronomy Fungi Biology Science Animals Agropedia  • Arthropods • Amphibians and Reptiles • Biotechnology • Birds • Cats • Cetaceans • Dinosaurs • Dogs • Dentistry • Extinction • Evolutionary biology • Fish • Gardening • Marine life • Medicine • Metabolism • Mind and Brain • Molecular and Cellular Biology • Neuroscience • Sharks edit   Associated Wikimedia What are portals? List of portals Featured portals