Encyclopedia
Botany is the
scientific study of
plantlife. As a branch of
biology, it is also sometimes referred to as
plant science or
plant biology. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines that study the structure, growth,
reproduction,
metabolism,
development,
diseases,
ecology, and
evolution of
plants.
Scope and importance of botany
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 , structure , or function of plant life.
Historically, botany covers all organisms that were not considered to be
animals. Some of these "plant-like" organisms include
fungi ,
bacteria and
viruses , and
algae . Most algae, fungi, and microbes are no longer considered to be in the plant kingdom. However, attention is still given to them by botanists, and bacteria, fungi, and algae are usually covered in introductory botany courses.
The study of plants is important for a number of reasons. Plants are a fundamental part of life on earth. They generate the
oxygen,
food, fibres, fuel and medicine that allow higher life forms to exist. Plants also absorb
carbon dioxide, a significant
greenhouse gas, through
photosynthesis. A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of human societies as it allows us to:
- Feed the world
- Understand fundamental life processes
- Utilise medicine and materials
- Understand environmental changes
Feed the world
Virtually
all of the food we eat comes from plants, either directly from staple foods and other
fruit and
vegetables, or indirectly through
livestock, which rely on plants for
fodder. In other words, plants are at the base of nearly all
food chains, or what ecologists call the first trophic level. Understanding how plants produce the food we eat is therefore important to be able to
feed the world and provide
food security for future generations, for example through
plant breeding. Not all plants are beneficial to humans, some weeds are a considerable problem in
agriculture and botany provides some of the basic science in order to understand how to minimise their impact. However, other weeds are pioneer plants which start an abused environment back on the road to rehabilitation, underlining that the term 'weed' is a very relative concept, and that broadly defined a weed is simply a plant which is too successful. Ethnobotany is the study of this and/or other relationships between plants and people.
Understand fundamental life processes
Plants are convenient organisms in which fundamental life processes can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals or humans. The
genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by
Gregor Mendel, who was studying the way
pea shape is inherited. What Mendel learnt from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany. Additionally,
Barbara McClintock discovered 'jumping genes' by studying
maize. These are a few examples that demonstrate how botanical research has an ongoing relevance to the understanding of fundamental biological processes.
Utilise medicine and materials
Many of our
medicinal and recreational drugs, like
cannabis,
caffeine, and
nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom.
Aspirin, which originally came from the bark of
willow trees, is just one example. 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 malt and
grapes.
Plants also provide us with many natural materials, such as
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 and other plants have recently been put to use as sources of
biofuels, which are important alternatives to
fossil fuels.
Understand environmental changes
Plants can also help us understand changes in on our environment in many ways.
The
geological time scale is used by geologist [i]s and other scientists to describe the timing and ...
can help scientists to reconstruct past climates and predict future ones, an essential part of
climate change research.
- Recording and analysing the timing of plant life cycles are important parts of phenology used in climate-change research.
- Lichens, which are sensitive to atmospheric conditions, have been extenisvely used as pollution indicators.
In many different ways, plants can act a bit 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.
History
Early botany
Among the earliest of botanical works, written around 300 B.C., are two large treatises by
Theophrastus:
On the History of Plants and
On the Causes of Plants. Together these books constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and on into the Middle Ages. The Roman medical writer
Dioscorides provides important evidence on Greek and Roman knowledge of medicinal plants.
In 1665, using an early microscope,
Robert Hooke discovered cells in
cork, a short time later in living plant tissue. The German
Leonhart Fuchs, the Swiss
Conrad von Gesner, and the British authors
Nicholas Culpeper and
John Gerard published herbals that gave information on the medicinal uses of plants.
Modern botany
A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying
model plants like
Arabidopsis thaliana, commonly called arabidopsis,
thale cress, or
mouse-ear cress, a sm...
. This mustard weed was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. The sequencing of the rice genome and a large international research community have made
rice the de facto
cereal/
grass/
monocot model. Another grass species,
Brachypodium distachyon is also emerging as an experimental model for understanding the genetic, cellular and molecular biology of temperate grasses. Other commercially important staple foods like
wheat,
maize,
barley,
rye,
millet and
soybean are also having their genomes sequenced. Some of these are challenging to sequence because they have more than two haploid sets of
chromosomes, a condition known as
polyploidy, common in the plant kingdom. The "Green Yeast"
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is another plant model organism that has been extensively studied and provided important insights into cell biology.
See also
...
References
Further reading
Popular science style books on Botany
- Bellamy, D Bellamy on Botany, ISBN 0-563-10666-2 an accessible and short introduction to various botanical subjects
- Capon, B: Botany for Gardeners ISBN 0-88192-655-8
- Cohen, J. How many people can the earth support? W.W. Norton 1995 ISBN 0-393-31495-2
- Halle, Francis. In praise of plants ISBN 0-88192-550-0. English translation of a poetic advocacy of plants.
- King, J. Reaching for the sun: How plants work ISBN 0-521-58738-7. A fluent introduction to how plants work.
- Pakenham, T: Remarkable Trees of the World ISBN 0-297-84300-1
- Pakenham, T: Meetings with Remarkable Trees ISBN 0-297-83255-7
- Pollan, M The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-eye View of the World Bloomsbury ISBN 0-7475-6300-4 Account of the co-evolution of plants and humans
- Thomas, B.A.: The evolution of plants and flowers St Martin's Press 1981 ISBN 0-312-27271-5
- Walker, D. Energy, Plants and Man ISBN 1-870232-05-4 A presentation of the basic concepts of photosynthesis
Academic and Scientific books on Botany
- Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W & Jones, R.L. Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiologists ISBN 0-943088-39-9
- Crawford, R. M. M. . Studies in plant survival. Blackwell. ISBN 0-632-01475-X
- Crawley, M. J. . Plant ecology. Blackwell Scientific. ISBN 0-632-03639-7
- Ennos, R and Sheffield, E Plant life, Blackwell Science, ISBN 0-86542-737-2 Introduction to plant biodiversity
- Fitter, A & Hay, R Environmental physiology of plants 3rd edition Sept 2001 Harcourt Publishers, Academic Press ISBN 0-12-257766-3
- Lambers, H., Chapin, F.S. III and Pons, T.L. 1998. Plant Physiological Ecology. Springer-Verlag, New York. ISBN 0-387-98326-0
- Lawlor, D.W. Photosynthesis BIOS ISBN 1-85996-157-6
- Matthews, R. E. F. Fundamentals of plant virology Academic Press,1992.
- Mauseth, J.D.: Botany : an introduction to plant biology. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 0-7637-2134-4, A first year undergraduate level textbook
- Raven, P.H, Evert R.H and Eichhorn, S.E: Biology of Plants, Freeman. ISBN 1-57259-041-6, A first year undergraduate level textbook
- Richards, P. W. . The tropical rainforest. 2nd ed. C.U.P. ISBN 0-521-42194-2 £32.50
- Ridge, I. Plants Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-925548-2
- Salisbury, FB and Ross, CW: Plant physiology Wadsworth publishing company ISBN 0-534-15162-0
- Stace, C. A. A new flora has two meanings. ...
of the British Isles. 2nd ed. C.U.P.,1997. ISBN 0-521-58935-5 - Strange, R. L. Introduction to plant pathology. Wiley-VCH, 2003. ISBN 0-470-84973-8
- Taiz, L. & Zeiger, E. . Plant physiology. 3rd ed. August 2002 Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0-87893-823-0
- Walter, H. . Vegetation of the earth. 3rd rev. ed. Springer.
- Willis, K The evolution of plants Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-850065-3 £22-99
External links
Flora and other plant catalogues or databases
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-
- from Catholic University of Leuven
- , 1790-1856
- , by Henry John Elwes & Augustine Henry, 1906-1913
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