1.
Cercis siliquastrum
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This species forms a small tree up to 12 m in height and 10 m in width. The deep pink flowers are produced on year-old or older growth, including the trunk, also, the flowers display a blossom with five free petals and fused sepals. This shape is specific to the Fabaceae, the leaves appear shortly after the first flowers emerge. These are cordate with a blunt apex, which occasionally has a notch at the tip. The tree produces long flat pods that hang vertically, the flowers are edible and purportedly have a sweet-acid taste. The species was first described by Linnaeus in 1753 and he gave it the epithet of siliquastrum which is derived from the Latin word siliqua. The generic name comes from the Greek kerkis, a shuttle, there are several varieties and subspecies and these include, var. hebecarpa Bornm. Yaltikirii Govaerts var. siliquastrum var. alba Weston The flowers are pollinated by bees, pollen from the protuding stamens is deposited on the bees body and carried to another flowers stigma. In Israel the tree has a status of a protected plant, the species prefers deep, well-drained soils and a position in full sun or partial shade. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit, propagation is by seed, cuttings or budding. The species produces hard wood with an attractive grain and it is used in veneers and polishes well. There is a myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species. Another possible source for the name is the fact that the flowers. The blossoms appear before the leaves, and they are of a brilliant crimson, the flaming beauty of the flowers attracts innumerable insects, and the wandering bee is drawn after it to gather honey. But every bee which alights upon the blossom, imbibes a fatal opiate, the Judas Tree Chapter 7 of V. International Legume Database & Information Service, Cercis siliquastrum The Royal Horticultural Society, Circus siliquastrum Wildflowers of Israel, Judas tree
2.
Meristem
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A meristem is the tissue in most plants containing undifferentiated cells, found in zones of the plant where growth can take place. Meristematic cells give rise to organs of the plant and keep the plant growing. The shoot apical meristem gives rise to organs like the leaves and flowers, SAM and RAM cells divide rapidly and are considered indeterminate, in that they do not possess any defined end status. In that sense, the cells are frequently compared to the stem cells in animals. The term meristem was first used in 1858 by Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli in his book Beiträge zur Wissenschaftlichen Botanik and it is derived from the Greek word merizein, meaning to divide, in recognition of its inherent function. In general, differentiated plant cells cannot divide or produce cells of a different type, therefore, cell division in the meristem is required to provide new cells for expansion and differentiation of tissues and initiation of new organs, providing the basic structure of the plant body. Meristematic cells are incompletely or not at all differentiated, and are capable of continued cellular division, furthermore, the cells are small and protoplasm fills the cell completely. The cytoplasm does not contain differentiated plastids, although they are present in rudimentary form, meristematic cells are packed closely together without intercellular cavities. The cell wall is a thin primary cell wall. Maintenance of the cells requires a balance between two processes, organ initiation and stem cell population renewal. Apical meristems are the completely undifferentiated meristems in a plant and these differentiate into three kinds of primary meristems. The primary meristems in turn produce the two secondary meristem types and these secondary meristems are also known as lateral meristems because they are involved in lateral growth. At the meristem summit, there is a group of slowly dividing cells. Cells of this zone have a stem cell function and are essential for meristem maintenance, the proliferation and growth rates at the meristem summit usually differ considerably from those at the periphery. Meristems also are induced in the roots of such as soybean, Lotus japonicus, pea. Cells of the inner or outer cortex in the window of nodulation just behind the developing root tip are induced to divide. The critical signal substance is the lipo-oligosaccharide Nod-factor, decorated with groups to allow specificity of interaction. The Nod factor receptor proteins NFR1 and NFR5 were cloned from several legumes including Lotus japonicus, Medicago truncatula, regulation of nodule meristems utilizes long distance regulation commonly called Autoregulation of Nodulation
3.
Peanut
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The peanut, also known as the groundnut and the goober and taxonomically classified as Arachis hypogaea, is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, being important to small and large commercial producers. It is classified as both a grain legume and, because of its oil content, an oil crop. World annual production of shelled peanuts was 42 million tonnes in 2014, atypically among crop plants, peanut pods develop underground rather than aboveground. It is this characteristic that the botanist Linnaeus used to assign the specific name hypogaea, as a legume, the peanut belongs to the botanical family Fabaceae, this is also known as Leguminosae, and commonly known as the bean, or pea, family. Like most other legumes, peanuts harbor symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules and this capacity to fix nitrogen means peanuts require less nitrogen-containing fertilizer and improve soil fertility, making them valuable in crop rotations. Peanuts are similar in taste and nutritional profile to tree nuts such as walnuts and almonds, the botanical definition of a nut is a fruit whose ovary wall becomes very hard at maturity. Using this criterion, the peanut is not a true nut, however, for culinary purposes and in common English language usage, peanuts are usually referred to as nuts. Cultivated peanut arose from a hybrid between two species of peanut, thought to be A. duranensis and A. ipaensis. The initial hybrid would have been sterile, but spontaneous chromosome doubling restored its fertility, the process of domestication through artificial selection made A. hypogaea dramatically different from its wild relatives. The domesticated plants are bushier and more compact, and have a different pod structure, the initial domestication may have taken place in northwestern Argentina, or in southeastern Bolivia, where the peanut landraces with the most wild-like features are grown today. From this primary center of origin, cultivation spread and formed secondary and tertiary centers of diversity in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay, over time, thousands of peanut landraces evolved, these are classified into six botanical varieties and two subspecies. Subspecies A. h. fastigiata types are more upright in their habit and have shorter crop cycles. Subspecies A. h. hypogaea types spread more on the ground and have longer crop cycles, the oldest known archeological remains of pods have been dated at about 7,600 years old. These may be pods from a species that was in cultivation. They were found in Peru, where dry conditions are favorable to the preservation of organic material. Almost certainly, peanut cultivation antedated this at the center of origin where the climate is moister, many pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Moche, depicted peanuts in their art. Cultivation was well established in Mesoamerica before the Spanish arrived, there, the conquistadors found the tlalcacahuatl being offered for sale in the marketplace of Tenochtitlan
4.
Douglas fir
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Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as Douglas fir or Douglas-fir, is an evergreen conifer species native to western North America. The common name honors David Douglas, a Scottish botanist and collector who first reported the extraordinary nature, the common name is misleading since it is not a true fir, i. e. not a member of the genus Abies. For this reason the name is written as Douglas-fir. The specific epithet, menziesii, is after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician, Menzies first documented the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791. Colloquially, the species is known simply as Doug-fir or as Douglas pine. One Coast Salish name for the tree, used in the Halkomelem language, is lá, one variety, coast Douglas fir, grows in the coastal regions, from west-central British Columbia southward to central California. In Oregon and Washington, its range is continuous from the edge of the Cascades west to the Pacific Coast Ranges. In California, it is found in the Klamath and California Coast Ranges as far south as the Santa Lucia Range, in the Sierra Nevada, it ranges as far south as the Yosemite region. It occurs from sea level along the coast to 1,800 m above sea level in the mountains of California. Further inland, coast Douglas fir is replaced by another variety, mexican Douglas fir, which ranges as far south as Oaxaca, is often considered a variety of P. menziesii. Coast Douglas fir is currently the second-tallest conifer in the world. Extant coast Douglas fir trees 60–75 m or more in height and 1. 5–2 m in diameter are common in old growth stands, Douglas firs commonly live more than 500 years and occasionally more than 1,000 years. The bark on trees is thin, smooth, and gray. On mature trees, it is thick and corky, the shoots are brown to olive-green, turning gray-brown with age, smooth, though not as smooth as fir shoots, and finely pubescent with short, dark hairs. The buds are a distinctive, narrow, conic shape, 4–8 mm long. Unlike the Rocky Mountain Douglas fir, coast Douglas fir foliage has a noticeable sweet fruity-resinous scent, the mature female seed cones are pendulous, 5–8 cm long, 2–3 cm wide when closed, opening to a 4 cm width. They are produced in spring, green at first, maturing orange-brown in the autumn 6–7 months later, the seeds are 5–6 mm long and 3–4 mm wide, with a 12–15-mm wing. The male cones are 2–3 cm long, dispersing yellow pollen in spring, in forest conditions, old individuals typically have a narrow, cylindric crown beginning 20–40 m above a branch-free trunk
5.
Pinus halepensis
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Pinus halepensis, commonly known as the Aleppo pine, is a pine native to the Mediterranean region. In Israel it is called Jerusalem pine, the tree is able to quickly colonize open and disturbed areas. It can grow on all substrates and almost in all bioclimates in the Mediterranean, P. halepensis is a small to medium-sized tree, 15–25 m tall, with a trunk diameter up to 60 cm, exceptionally up to 1 m. The bark is orange-red, thick, and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, the leaves are very slender, 6–12 cm long, distinctly yellowish green, and produced in pairs. The cones are conic, 5–12 cm long and 2–3 cm broad at the base when closed, green at first. They open slowly over the few years, a process quickened if they are exposed to heat such as in forest fires. The cones open 5–8 cm wide to allow the seeds to disperse, the seeds are 5–6 mm long, with a 20-mm wing, and are wind-dispersed. The Aleppo pine is closely related to the Turkish pine, Canary Island pine, and maritime pine, some authors include the Turkish pine as a subspecies of the Aleppo pine, as Pinus halepensis subsp. Brutia Holmboe, but it is regarded as a distinct species. It is a relatively nonvariable species, in that its morphological characteristics stay constant over the entire range, the resin of the Aleppo pine is used to flavor the Greek wine retsina. From the pine nuts of the Aleppo pine is made a pudding called asidet zgougou in the Tunisian dialect, it is served in bowls, covered with cream, Aleppo pine are used for bonsai. In its native area, P. halepensis is widely planted for its timber, making it one of the most important forestry trees in Algeria. In Israel, the Aleppo pine, along with Pinus brutia, has been planted extensively by the JNF and it proved very successful in Yatir Forest in the northern Negev, where foresters had not expected it to survive. Many Aleppo pine forests exist today in Israel and are used for recreational purposes, in Israel natural patches of Aleppo pine forests can be found in the Carmel and Galilee regions. The species produces timber which is valued for its hardness, density, seasoned timber is inclined to tear out with planing, but this can be avoided by using sharp blades or adjusting the sharpening angle of tools. The Aleppo pine is considered an invasive species though useful in South Africa, in South Australia, P. Paul Cézanne had an Aleppo pine in his garden at Aix-en-Provence, this tree was the inspiration and model for his painting, The Big Trees. As of 2005, the tree is growing in Cézannes garden
6.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
7.
Cotyla
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The cotylae are also features on the proximal end of the radius and of the ulna in birds. In classical antiquity, the cotyla or cotyle was a measure of capacity among the Romans and Greeks, by the former it was also called hemina, by the latter, τρυβλίον and ἡμίνα or ἡμίμνα. It was the half of the sextarius or ξέστης, and contained six cyathi and this measure was used by physicians with a graduated scale marked on it, like our own chemical measures, for measuring out given weights of fluids, especially oil. A vessel or horn, of a cubic or cylindrical shape, the whole vessel was called litra, and each of the parts an ounce. This measure held nine ounces of oil, so that the ratio of the weight of the oil to the number of ounces it occupied in the measure would be 9,12 or 3,4. The name is given to a type of ancient Greek vase broadly similar in shape to a skyphos
8.
Embryo
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An embryo is an early stage of development of a multicellular diploid eukaryotic organism. In general, in organisms that reproduce sexually, an embryo develops from a zygote, the zygote possesses half the DNA of each of its two parents. In plants, animals, and some protists, the zygote will begin to divide by mitosis to produce a multicellular organism, the result of this process is an embryo. First attested in English in the mid-14c, the word embryon derives from Medieval Latin embryo, itself from Greek ἔμβρυον, lit. Young one, which is the neuter of ἔμβρυος, lit, growing in, from ἐν, in and βρύω, swell, be full, the proper Latinized form of the Greek term would be embryum. In animals, the development of the zygote into an embryo proceeds through specific stages of blastula, gastrula. The blastula stage typically features a fluid-filled cavity, the blastocoel, surrounded by a sphere or sheet of cells, in a placental mammal, an ovum is fertilized in a fallopian tube through which it travels into the uterus. An embryo is called a fetus at an advanced stage of development. In humans, this is from the week of gestation. During gastrulation the cells of the blastula undergo coordinated processes of cell division, invasion, in triploblastic organisms, the three germ layers are called endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm. The position and arrangement of the layers are highly species-specific, however. For example, in neurogenesis, a subpopulation of cells is set aside to become the brain, spinal cord. Modern developmental biology is extensively probing the molecular basis for every type of organogenesis, including angiogenesis, chondrogenesis, myogenesis, osteogenesis, and many others. In botany, a plant embryo is part of a seed, consisting of precursor tissues for the leaves, stem. Once the embryo begins to germinate — grow out from the seed — it is called a seedling, bryophytes and ferns also produce an embryo, but do not produce seeds. In these plants, the embryo begins its existence attached to the inside of the archegonium on a parental gametophyte from which the egg cell was generated, the structure and development of the rest of the embryo varies by group of plants. Once the embryo has expanded beyond the enclosing archegonium, it is no longer termed an embryo, embryos are used in various fields of research and in techniques of assisted reproductive technology. An egg may be fertilized in vitro and the embryo may be frozen for later use
9.
Seed
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A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
10.
Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
11.
Germination
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Germination is the process by which a plant grows from a seed. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, in addition, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of hyphae from fungal spores, is also germination. Thus, in a sense, germination can be thought of as anything expanding into greater being from a small existence or germ. The seed of a plant is a small package produced in a fruit or cone after the union of male and female reproductive cells. All fully developed seeds contain an embryo and, in most plant species some store of food reserves, some plants produce varying numbers of seeds that lack embryos, these are called empty seeds and never germinate. Dormant seeds are seeds that do not germinate because they are subject to external environmental conditions that prevent the initiation of metabolic processes. Under proper conditions, the seed begins to germinate and the embryonic tissues resume growth, Seed germination depends on both internal and external conditions. The most important external factors include right temperature, water, oxygen or air, various plants require different variables for successful seed germination. Often this depends on the seed variety and is closely linked to the ecological conditions of a plants natural habitat. For some seeds, their future germination response is affected by environmental conditions during seed formation, mature seeds are often extremely dry and need to take in significant amounts of water, relative to the dry weight of the seed, before cellular metabolism and growth can resume. Most seeds need enough water to moisten the seeds but not enough to soak them, the uptake of water by seeds is called imbibition, which leads to the swelling and the breaking of the seed coat. When seeds are formed, most plants store a reserve with the seed, such as starch, proteins. This food reserve provides nourishment to the growing embryo, when the seed imbibes water, hydrolytic enzymes are activated which break down these stored food resources into metabolically useful chemicals. Oxygen is required by the seed for metabolism. Oxygen is used in respiration, the main source of the seedlings energy until it grows leaves. Oxygen is a gas that is found in soil pore spaces, if a seed is buried too deeply within the soil or the soil is waterlogged. Temperature affects cellular metabolic and growth rates, Seeds from different species and even seeds from the same plant germinate over a wide range of temperatures. Seeds often have a range within which they will germinate
12.
Leaf
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A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant and is the principal lateral appendage of the stem. The leaves and stem together form the shoot, Leaves are collectively referred to as foliage, as in autumn foliage. Although leaves can be seen in different shapes, sizes and textures, typically a leaf is a thin, dorsiventrally flattened organ, borne above ground. Most leaves have distinctive upper surface and lower surface that differ in colour, hairiness, broad, flat leaves with complex venation are known as megaphylls and the species that bear them, the majority, as broad-leaved or megaphyllous plants. In others, such as the clubmosses, with different evolutionary origins, some leaves, such as bulb scales are not above ground, and in many aquatic species the leaves are submerged in water. Succulent plants often have thick juicy leaves, but some leaves are without major photosynthetic function and may be dead at maturity, as in some cataphylls, furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. Examples include flattened plant stems called phylloclades and cladodes, and flattened leaf stems called phyllodes which differ from both in their structure and origin. Many structures of plants, such as the phyllids of mosses and liverworts and even of some foliose lichens. Leaves are the most important organs of most vascular plants and these are then further processed by chemical synthesis into more complex organic molecules such as cellulose, the basic structural material in plant cell walls. The plant must therefore bring these three together in the leaf for photosynthesis to take place. Once sugar has been synthesized, it needs to be transported to areas of growth such as the plant shoots and roots. Vascular plants transport sucrose in a tissue called the phloem. The phloem and xylem are parallel to each other but the transport of materials is usually in opposite directions. Within the leaf these vascular systems branch to form veins which supply as much as the leaf as possible and they are arranged on the plant so as to expose their surfaces to light as efficiently as possible without shading each other, but there are many exceptions and complications. For instance plants adapted to windy conditions may have pendent leaves, such as in many willows, the flat, or laminar, shape also maximises thermal contact with the surrounding air, promoting cooling. Functionally, in addition to photosynthesis the leaf is the site of transpiration and guttation. Many gymnosperms have thin needle-like or scale-like leaves that can be advantageous in cold climates with frequent snow and these are interpreted as reduced from megaphyllous leaves of their Devonian ancestors. For xerophytes the major constraint is not light flux or intensity, some window plants such as Fenestraria species and some Haworthia species such as Haworthia tesselata and Haworthia truncata are examples of xerophytes. and Bulbine mesembryanthemoides
13.
Flowering plant
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The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
14.
Monocotyledon
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Monocotyledons, commonly referred to as monocots, are flowering plants whose seeds typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. However, molecular research has shown that while the monocots form a monophyletic group or clade. Monocots have almost always recognized as a group, but with various taxonomic ranks. The APG III system of 2009 recognises a clade called monocots, the monocots include about 60,000 species. The largest family in this group by number of species are the orchids, about half as many species belong to the true grasses, which are economically the most important family of monocots. In agriculture the majority of the biomass produced comes from monocots and these include not only major grains, but also forage grasses, sugar cane, and the bamboos. Other economically important monocot crops include various palms, bananas, gingers and their relatives, turmeric and cardamom, asparagus and the onions and garlic family. Additionally most of the bulbs, plants cultivated for their blooms, such as lilies, daffodils, irises, amaryllis, cannas, bluebells. The monocots or monocotyledons have, as the name implies, a single cotyledon, or embryonic leaf, from a diagnostic point of view the number of cotyledons is neither a particularly useful characteristic, nor is it completely reliable. Nevertheless, monocots are sufficiently distinctive that there has rarely been disagreement as to membership of this group, however, morphological features that reliably characterise major clades are rare. Thus monocots are distinguishable from other angiosperms both in terms of their uniformity and diversity, although largely herbaceous, some arboraceous monocots reach great height, length and mass. The latter include agaves, palms, pandans, and bamboos and this creates challenges in water transport that monocots deal with in various ways. Some such as species of Yucca develop anomalous secondary growth, while palm trees, the axis undergoes primary thickening, that progresses from internode to internode, resulting in a typical inverted conical shape of the basal primary axis. The limited conductivity also contributes to limited branching of the stems, despite these limitations a wide variety of adaptive growth forms has resulted from epiphytic orchids and bromeliads to submarine Alismatales and mycotrophic Burmanniaceae and Triuridaceae. Other monocots, particularly Poales have adopted a life form. Leaves The cotyledon, the primordial Angiosperm leaf consists of a proximal leaf base or hypophyll, in moncots the hypophyll tends to be the dominant part in contrast to other angiosperms. Mature monocot leaves are narrow and linear, forming a sheathing around the stem at its base. There is usually only one leaf per node because the leaf base encompasses more than half the circumference, the evolution of this monocot characteristic has been attributed to developmental differences in early zonal differentiation rather than meristem activity
15.
Dicotyledon
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The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, were one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants or angiosperms were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the characteristics of the group. There are around 200,000 species within this group, the other group of flowering plants were called monocotyledons or monocots, typically having one cotyledon. Historically, these two formed the two divisions of the flowering plants. Rather, a number of lineages, such as the magnoliids and groups now known as the basal angiosperms. The traditional dicots are thus a paraphyletic group, the largest clade of the dicotyledons are known as the eudicots. They are distinguished from all other flowering plants by the structure of their pollen, aside from cotyledon number, other broad differences have been noted between monocots and dicots, although these have proven to be differences primarily between monocots and eudicots. Many early-diverging dicot groups have monocot characteristics such as scattered vascular bundles, trimerous flowers, in addition, some monocots have dicot characteristics such as reticulated leaf veins. Traditionally the dicots have been called the Dicotyledones, at any rank, if treated as a class, as in the Cronquist system, they could be called the Magnoliopsida after the type genus Magnolia. In some schemes, the eudicots were treated as a separate class, the remaining dicots may be kept in a single paraphyletic class, called Magnoliopsida, or further divided. Some botanists prefer to retain the dicotyledons as a class, arguing its practicality. The following lists show the orders in the APG III system traditionally called dicots, together with the older Cronquist system
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Magnoliopsida
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Magnoliopsida is a valid botanical name for a class of flowering plants. In the Takhtajan system and the Cronquist system the name was used for the known as dicotyledons. However, the Cronquist system has very popular and there have been many versions of the system published. In some of these Cronquist-based systems the name Magnoliopsida refers to the flowering plants, lauranae In the APG and APG II systems botanical names are used only at the rank of order and below. Above the rank of order, these use their own names, such as angiosperms, eudicots, monocots, rosids. This class Magnoliopsida is not defined, note that the idea that dicotyledons could be a taxonomic unit and get a formal name is rejected by the APG, the dicots are considered to be paraphyletic
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Poaceae
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Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
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Coleoptile
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Coleoptile is the pointed protective sheath covering the emerging shoot in monocotyledons such as grasses. Coleoptiles have two vascular bundles, one on either side, unlike the flag leaves rolled up within, the pre-emergent coleoptile does not accumulate significant protochlorophyll or carotenoids, and so it is generally very pale. Some preemergent coleoptiles do, however, accumulate purple anthocyanin pigments, Coleoptiles consist of very similar cells that are all specialised to fast stretch growth. They do not divide, but increase in size as they accumulate more water, Coleoptiles also have water vessels along the axis to provide a water supply. When a coleoptile reaches the surface, it stops growing and the flag leaves penetrate its top, the wheat coleoptile is most developed in the third day of the germination. Early experiments on phototropism using coleoptiles suggested that plants grow towards light because plant cells on the darker side elongate more than those on the lighter side, in 1880 Charles Darwin and his son, Francis found that coleoptiles only bend towards the light when their tips are exposed. Therefore, the tips must contain the photoreceptor cells although the bending takes place lower down on the shoot, a chemical messenger or hormone called auxin moves down the dark side of the shoot and stimulates growth on that side. The natural plant hormone responsible for phototropism is now known to be indoleacetic acid, the Cholodny-Went model is named after Frits Warmolt Went of the California Institute of Technology and the Russian scientist N. Cholodny, who reached the same conclusion independently in 1937. It describes the phototropic and gravitropic properties of emerging shoots of monocotyledons, the model proposes that auxin, a plant growth hormone, is synthesized in the coleoptile tip, which senses light or gravity and will send the auxin down the appropriate side of the shoot. This causes asymmetric growth of one side of the plant, as a result, the plant shoot will begin to bend toward a light source or toward the surface. Coleoptiles also exhibit strong geotropic reaction, always growing upward and correcting direction after reorientation, geotropic reaction is regulated by light. Media related to Coleoptiles at Wikimedia Commons
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Endosperm
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Endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain oils and this can make endosperm a source of nutrition in the human diet. For example, wheat endosperm is ground into flour for bread, other examples of endosperm that forms the bulk of the edible portion are coconut meat and coconut water, and corn. Some plants, such as orchids, lack endosperm in their seeds, in more derived flowering plants the embryo occupies most of the seed and the endosperm is non developed or consumed before the seed matures. Endosperm is formed when the two sperm nuclei inside a pollen grain reach the interior of a female gametophyte, one sperm nucleus fertilizes the egg cell, forming a zygote, while the other sperm nucleus usually fuses with the binucleate central cell, forming a primary endosperm cell. That cell created in the process of double fertilization develops into the endosperm, because it is formed by a separate fertilization, the endosperm constitutes an organism separate from the growing embryo. About 70% of angiosperm species have endosperm cells that are polyploid and these are typically triploid, but can vary widely from diploid to 15n. One species of flowering plant, Nuphar polysepala, has endosperm that is diploid, resulting from the fusion of a nucleus with one. There are three types of Endosperm development, Nuclear endosperm formation - where repeated free-nuclear divisions take place, commonly referred to as liquid endosperm. Coconut water is an example of this, cellular endosperm formation - where a cell-wall formation is coincident with nuclear divisions. Acoraceae has cellular endosperm development while other monocots are helobial, the evolutionary origins of double fertilization and endosperm are unclear, attracting researcher attention for over a century. There are the two hypotheses, The double fertilization initially used to produce two identical, independent embryos. Later these embryos acquired different roles, one growing into the mature organism, thus the early endosperm was probably diploid, like the embryo. Some gymnosperms, such as Ephedra, may produce twin embryos by double fertilization, either of these two embryos is capable of filling in the seed, but normally only one develops further. Also, most basal angiosperms still contain the embryo sac. Endosperm is the remnant of the actual gametophyte, similar to the complex multicellular gametophytes found in gymnosperms. In this case, acquisition of the nucleus from the sperm cell is a later evolutionary step. This nucleus may provide the organism with some control over endosperm development
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Gymnosperm
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The gymnosperms are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetophytes. The term gymnosperm comes from the Greek composite word γυμνόσπερμος, meaning naked seeds and their naked condition stands in contrast to the seeds and ovules of flowering plants, which are enclosed within an ovary. Gymnosperm seeds develop either on the surface of scales or leaves, often modified to form cones, the gymnosperms and angiosperms together compose the spermatophytes or seed plants. By far the largest group of living gymnosperms are the conifers, followed by cycads, gnetophytes, in early classification schemes, the gymnosperms were regarded as a natural group. There is conflicting evidence on the question of whether the living gymnosperms form a clade, for the most recent classification on extant gymnosperms see Christenhusz et al. There are 12 families,83 known genera with a total of ca 1080 known species, subclass Cycadidae Order Cycadales Family Cycadaceae, Cycas Family Zamiaceae, Dioon, Bowenia, Macrozamia, Lepidozamia, Encephalartos, Stangeria, Ceratozamia, Microcycas, Zamia. It is widely accepted that the gymnosperms originated in the late Carboniferous period and this appears to have been the result of a whole genome duplication event around 319 million years ago. Early characteristics of seed plants were evident in fossil progymnosperms of the late Devonian period around 383 million years ago, the scorpionflies likely engaged in pollination mutualisms with gymnosperms, long before the similar and independent coevolution of nectar-feeding insects on angiosperms. Evidence has also found that mid-Mesozoic gymnosperms were pollinated by Kalligrammatid lacewings. Conifers are by far the most abundant extant group of gymnosperms with six to eight families, with a total of 65-70 genera, conifers are woody plants and most are evergreens. The leaves of many conifers are long, thin and needle-like, other species, including most Cupressaceae and some Podocarpaceae, have flat, agathis in Araucariaceae and Nageia in Podocarpaceae have broad, flat strap-shaped leaves. Cycads are the next most abundant group of gymnosperms, with two or three families,11 genera, and approximately 338 species, the other extant groups are the 95-100 species of Gnetales and one species of Ginkgo. Pine, fir, spruce, and cedar are all examples of conifers that are used for lumber, some other common uses for gymnosperms are soap, varnish, nail polish, food, gum, and perfumes. Gymnosperms, like all plants, have a sporophyte-dominant life cycle. Two spore types, microspores and megaspores, are produced in pollen cones or ovulate cones. Gametophytes, as with all plants, develop within the spore wall. Pollen grains mature from microspores, and ultimately produce sperm cells, megagametophytes develop from megaspores and are retained within the ovule. During pollination, pollen grains are transferred between plants, from pollen cone to the ovule, being transferred by wind or insects
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Hypocotyl
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The hypocotyl is the stem of a germinating seedling, found below the cotyledons and above the radicle. As the plant embryo grows at germination, it out a shoot called a radicle that becomes the primary root. After emergence of the radicle, the hypocotyl emerges and lifts the growing tip above the ground, bearing the embryonic leaves, the hypocotyl is the primary organ of extension of the young plant and develops into the stem. The early development of a monocot seedling like cereals and other grasses is somewhat different, a structure called the coleoptile, essentially a part of the cotyledon, protects the young stem and plumule as growth pushes them up through the soil. A mesocotyl—that part of the plant that lies between the seed and the plumule—extends the shoot up to the soil surface, where secondary roots develop from just beneath the plumule. The primary root from the radicle may then fail to develop further, the mesocotyl is considered to be partly hypocotyl and partly cotyledon. Not all monocots develop like the grasses, the onion develops in a manner similar to the first sequence described above, the seed coat and endosperm pulled upwards as the cotyledon extends. Later, the first true leaf grows from the node between the radicle and the cotyledon, breaking through the cotyledon to grow past it. In some plants, the hypocotyl becomes enlarged as a storage organ, examples include cyclamen, gloxinia and celeriac. In cyclamen this storage organ is called a tuber, one of the widely used assay in the field of photobiology is the investigation of the effect of changes in light quantity and quality on hypocotyl elongation. It is frequently used to study the growth promoting vs. growth repressing effects of application of plant hormones like ethylene and this rate is highest when plants are kept in darkness mediated by a process called skotomorphogenesis, which contrasts photomorphogenesis
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Pinus radiata
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Pinus radiata, family Pinaceae, the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California and Mexico. Pinus radiata is a versatile, fast-growing, medium-density softwood, suitable for a range of uses. Its silviculture is highly developed, and is built on a foundation of over a century of research, observation. Radiata pine is considered a model for growers of other plantation species. It is the most widely planted pine in the world, valued for rapid growth and desirable lumber, although Pinus radiata is extensively cultivated as a plantation timber in many temperate parts of the world, it faces serious threats in its natural range. It is native to three very limited areas located in Santa Cruz, Monterey Peninsula, and San Luis Obispo Counties and it is also found as the variety Pinus radiata var. binata or Guadalupe pine on Guadalupe Island, and a possibly separable P. radiata var. /subsp. Cedrosensis on Cedros Island, both in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the northern Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. In Australia, New Zealand, and Spain it is the introduced tree and in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Kenya. It is also a tree on the worlds most remote inhabited island. Pinus radiata is a evergreen tree growing to between 15–30 m in height in the wild, but up to 60 m in cultivation in optimum conditions, with upward pointing branches. The leaves are green, in clusters of three, slender, 8–15 cm long and with a blunt tip. The cones are 7–17 cm long, brown, ovoid, and usually set asymmetrically on a branch, the bark is fissured and dark grey to brown. The modern tree is different from the native tree of Monterey. In plantations the tree is planted at 4m x 4m spacing on a wide variety of landscapes from flat to moderately steep hills. The trees are pruned in 3 lifts so that the lower 2/3 of a tree is branch- free. In its natural state, the wood is poor quality, twisted, knotty and full of sap/resin only really suitable for firewood, Monterey pine is a species adapted to cope with stand-killing fire disturbance. Its cones are serotinous, i. e. they remain closed until opened by the heat of a forest fire, the cones may also burst open in hot weather. In its native range, Monterey pine is associated with a characteristic flora and it is the co-dominant canopy tree together with Cupressus macrocarpa which naturally occurs only in coastal Monterey County
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Jeffrey pine
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Jeffrey pine also known as Jeffreys pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon and it is named in honor of its botanist documenter John Jeffrey. Jeffrey pine occurs from southwest Oregon south through much of California, to northern Baja California in Mexico. It is a species, in the north of its range, it grows widely at 1,500 to 2,100 m altitude. Jeffrey pine is tolerant of soils and is often dominant in these conditions. On other soils, it becomes dominant at higher altitudes where the usually faster-growing ponderosa pine does not thrive. Jeffrey pine is more tolerant than the closely related Ponderosa pine. At higher elevations, on soils, in colder climates. Jeffrey pine is a coniferous evergreen tree, reaching 25 to 40 m tall, rarely up to 53 m tall. The leaves are needle-like, in bundles of three, stout, glaucous gray-green,12 to 23 cm long, the cones are 12 to 24 cm long, dark purple when immature, ripening pale brown, with thinly woody scales bearing a short, sharp inward-pointing barb. The seeds are 10 to 12 mm long, with a large wing, the Jeffrey pine is closely related to the ponderosa pine and is similar in appearance. One way to distinguish them is by their cones. Each has barbs at the end of the scales, the sharp Jeffrey pine cone scale barbs point inward, so the cone feels smooth to the palm of ones hand when rubbed down the cone. Ponderosa pine cone scale barbs point outward, so feel sharp and this gives rise to the memory device for distinguishing between them - gentle Jeffrey and prickly ponderosa. This may be tested by breaking off a shoot or some needles and this difference in scent is related to the very unusual composition of the resin, with the volatile component made up almost entirely of pure n-heptane. Jeffrey pine can be distinguished from ponderosa pine by the relatively smaller scales of bark as compared to the larger plates of more reddish-colored ponderosa bark. Jeffrey pine wood is similar to ponderosa pine wood, and is used for the same purposes, the exceptional purity of n-heptane distilled from Jeffrey pine resin led to n-heptane being selected as the zero point on the octane rating scale of petrol. As it mainly consists of n-heptane, Jeffrey pine resin is a source of turpentine
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Cupressus sempervirens
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C. sempervirens is a medium-sized coniferous evergreen tree to 35 m tall, with a conic crown with level branches and variably loosely hanging branchlets. It is very long-lived, with some reported to be over 1,000 years old. The foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green in colour, the leaves are scale-like, 2–5 mm long, and produced on rounded shoots. The seed cones are ovoid or oblong, 25–40 mm long, with 10-14 scales, green at first, the male cones are 3–5 mm long, and release pollen in late winter. It is moderately susceptible to canker, caused by the fungus Seiridium cardinale. The species name comes from the Latin for evergreen. It can also be grown successfully in areas with cooler, moister summers, such as the British Isles, New Zealand and it is also planted in Florida and parts of the coastal southern United States as an ornamental tree. In some areas, particularly the United States, it is known as Italian or Tuscan cypress, the dark green exclamation mark shape of these trees is a highly characteristic signature of Mediterranean town and village landscapes. It is also known for its durable, scented wood, used most famously for the doors of St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican City. Cypress used to be used in distilleries as staves to hold mash ferments to make alcohol before the invention of stainless steel, commonly seen throughout New Mexico, the Mediterranean Cypress is also known as the drama tree because of its tendency to bend with even the slightest of breezes. In cosmetics it is used as astringent, firming, anti-seborrheic, anti-dandruff, anti-aging and it is also the traditional wood used for Italian harpsichords. Cypress, Cupressus sempervirens, was the first choice for Iranian Gardens, in all of the famous Persian Gardens, such as Fin Garden, Shazdeh Garden, Dowlat-Abad, and others, this tree plays a central role in their design. The oldest living Cypress is the Sarv-e-Abarkooh in Irans Yazd Province and its age is estimated to be approximately 4,000 years. In classical antiquity, the cypress was a symbol of mourning, in the classical tradition, the cypress was associated with death and the underworld because it failed to regenerate when cut back too severely. Athenian households in mourning were garlanded with boughs of cypress, Cypress was used to fumigate the air during cremations. It was among the plants that were suitable for making wreaths to adorn statues of Pluto, the poet Ovid, who wrote during the reign of Augustus, records the best-known myth that explains the association of the cypress with grief. The handsome boy Cyparissus, a favorite of Apollo, accidentally killed a beloved tame stag and his grief and remorse were so inconsolable that he asked to weep forever. He was transformed into cupressus sempervirens, with the sap as his tears
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Pinus maximartinezii
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Pinus maximartinezii, called Martinez pinyon, big-cone pinyon or maxipiñon, is a pine in the pinyon pine group, native to central Mexico. The range is highly localised, confined to an area of the southern Sierra Madre Occidental in southern Zacatecas. It occurs at altitudes, from 1800–2400 m and 21° North latitude, in warm and temperate. It is a tree, reaching 5–15 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 50 cm. The bark is brown, thick and fissured at the base of the trunk, the leaves are in fascicles of five, slender, 7–13 cm long, and deep green to blue-green, with stomata confined to a bright white band on the inner surfaces. The cones open to 10–15 cm broad when mature, the seeds are 2–3 cm long, with a thick shell, with a vestigial 1–2 mm wing, the seedlings have 18–24 cotyledons, the highest number reported for any plant. It differs from all other species in that it has very massive cones. Like other pinyons, the seeds are edible, this represents a threat to the survival, as the majority of the seeds produced are harvested. It has started being cultivated recently and is an attractive tree as ornamental. The Mexican government has declared this species endangered, gymnosperm Database, Pinus maximartinezii Farjon, A. & Styles, B. T. Pinus. Conifers Around the World, Pinus maximartinezii – Martínez Pinyon Pine
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Photosynthesis
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Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms activities. In most cases, oxygen is released as a waste product. Most plants, most algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, such organisms are called photoautotrophs, in plants, these proteins are held inside organelles called chloroplasts, which are most abundant in leaf cells, while in bacteria they are embedded in the plasma membrane. In these light-dependent reactions, some energy is used to strip electrons from suitable substances, such as water, in the Calvin cycle, atmospheric carbon dioxide is incorporated into already existing organic carbon compounds, such as ribulose bisphosphate. Using the ATP and NADPH produced by the light-dependent reactions, the compounds are then reduced and removed to form further carbohydrates. Cyanobacteria appeared later, the oxygen they produced contributed directly to the oxygenation of the Earth. Today, the rate of energy capture by photosynthesis globally is approximately 130 terawatts. Photosynthetic organisms also convert around 100–115 thousand million tonnes of carbon into biomass per year. Photosynthetic organisms are photoautotrophs, which means that they are able to synthesize food directly from carbon dioxide, however, not all organisms that use light as a source of energy carry out photosynthesis, photoheterotrophs use organic compounds, rather than carbon dioxide, as a source of carbon. In plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, photosynthesis releases oxygen and this is called oxygenic photosynthesis and is by far the most common type of photosynthesis used by living organisms. Although there are differences between oxygenic photosynthesis in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, the overall process is quite similar in these organisms. There are also varieties of anoxygenic photosynthesis, used mostly by certain types of bacteria. Carbon dioxide is converted into sugars in a process called carbon fixation, photosynthesis provides the energy in the form of free electrons that are used to split carbon from carbon dioxide that is then used to fix that carbon once again as carbohydrate. Carbon fixation is a redox reaction, so photosynthesis supplies the energy that drives both process. In the first stage, light-dependent reactions or light reactions capture the energy of light and use it to make the energy-storage molecules ATP, during the second stage, the light-independent reactions use these products to capture and reduce carbon dioxide. Most organisms that utilize oxygenic photosynthesis use visible light for the light-dependent reactions, some organisms employ even more radical variants of photosynthesis. Some archea use a method that employs a pigment similar to those used for vision in animals. The bacteriorhodopsin changes its configuration in response to sunlight, acting as a proton pump and this produces a proton gradient more directly, which is then converted to chemical energy
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Epigeal germination
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Epigeal germination is a botanical term indicating that the germination of a plant takes place above the ground. An example of a plant with epigeal germination is the common bean, the opposite of epigeal is hypogeal. Epigeal germination implies that the cotyledons are pushed above ground, the hypocotyl elongates while the epicotyl stays the same length. In this way, the hypocotyl pushes the cotyledon upward, normally, the cotyledon itself contains very little nutrients in plants that show this kind of germination. Instead, the first leaflets are folded up inside it. Because the cotyledon is positioned above the ground it is more vulnerable to damage like night-frost or grazing. The evolutionary strategy is that the plant produces a number of seeds. Plants that show epigeal germination need external nutrients rather quickly in order to develop, the plants also need relatively much sunlight for photosynthesis to take place. Therefore they can be more often in the field, at the border of forests. Plants that show epigeal germination grow relatively fast, especially in the first phase when the leaflets unfold, because of this, they occur frequently in areas that experience regular flooding, for example at the river borders in the Amazon region. The fast germination enables the plant to develop before the next flooding takes place, after the faster first phase, the plant develops more slowly than plants that show hypogeal germination. It is possible that within the same genus one species shows epigeal germination while another species shows hypogeal germination, duke introduced the terms phanerocotylar and cryptocotylar as synonyms for epigeal and hypogeal respectively, because he didnt consider these terms etymologically correct. Later, it was discovered there are rare cases of species where the germination is epigeal. Therefore, divisions have been proposed that both factors into account
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Hypogeal germination
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Hypogeal germination is a botanical term indicating that the germination of a plant takes place below the ground. An example of a plant with hypogeal germination is the pea, the opposite of hypogeal is epigeal. Hypogeal germination implies that the cotyledons stay below the ground, the epicotyl grows, while the hypocotyl stays the same length. In this way, the epicotyl pushes the plumule above the ground, normally, the cotyledon is fleshy, and contains many nutrients that are used for germination. No photosynthesis takes place within the cotyledon, because the cotyledon stays below the ground, it is much less vulnerable to for example night-frost or grazing. The evolutionary strategy is that the plant produces a low number of seeds. Plants that show hypogeal germination need relatively little in the way of external nutrients to grow, the plants also need less sunlight, so they can be found more often in the middle of forests, where there is much competition to reach the sunlight. Plants that show hypogeal germination grow relatively slow, especially in the first phase, in areas that are regularly flooded, they need more time between floodings to develop. On the other hand, they are more resistant when a flooding takes place, after the slower first phase, the plant develops faster than plants that show epigeal germination. It is possible that within the same genus one species shows hypogeal germination while another species shows epigeal germination, duke introduced the terms cryptocotylar and phanerocotylar as synonyms for hypogeal and epigeal respectively, because he didnt consider these terms etymologically correct. Later, it was discovered there are rare cases of species where the germination is epigeal. Therefore, divisions have been proposed that both factors into account
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Nut (fruit)
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A nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, which is generally edible. In a general context, however, a variety of dried seeds are called nuts. The translation of nut in certain languages frequently requires paraphrases, as the word is ambiguous. Most seeds come from fruits that naturally free themselves from the shell, unlike nuts such as hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns, which have hard shell walls and originate from a compound ovary. The general and original usage of the term is less restrictive, and many nuts, such as almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, common usage of the term often refers to any hard-walled, edible kernel as a nut. A nut in botany is a dry fruit with one seed in which the ovary wall becomes increasingly hard as it matures. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries and all are indehiscent, true nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales. Order Fagales Family Fagaceae Beech Chestnut Oak Stone-oak Tanoak Family Betulaceae Hazel, in botany, this term specifically refers to a pyrena or pyrene, which is a seed covered by a stony layer, such as the kernel of a drupe. Walnuts and hickories have fruits that are difficult to classify and they are considered to be nuts under some definitions, but are also referred to as drupaceous nuts. Tryma is a term for hickory fruits. In common use, a nut is, as the name implies. This most often comes up regarding allergies, where people are allergic specifically to peanuts. A nut in cuisine is a less restrictive category than a nut in botany. Any large, oily kernels found within a shell and used in food are called nuts. Nuts are an important source of nutrients for humans and wildlife. Because nuts generally have an oil content, they are a highly prized food. A large number of seeds are edible by humans and used in cooking, eaten raw, sprouted, or roasted as a food, or pressed for oil that is used in cookery. Nuts are also a significant source of nutrition for wildlife, Nuts used for food, whether true nut or not, are among the most common food allergens
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Acorn
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The acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives. It usually contains a seed, enclosed in a tough, leathery shell. Acorns are 1–6 cm long and 0. 8–4 cm broad, Acorns take between 6 and 24 months to mature, see List of Quercus species for details of oak classification, in which acorn morphology and phenology are important factors. Acorns play an important role in forest ecology when oaks are the dominant species or are plentiful, the volume of the acorn crop may vary wildly, creating great abundance or great stress on the many animals dependent on acorns and the predators of those animals. Acorns, along with nuts, are termed mast. Wildlife that consume acorns as an important part of their diets includes birds, such as jays, pigeons, some ducks, small mammals that feed on acorns include mice, squirrels and several other rodents. Large mammals such as pigs, bears, and deer also consume large amounts of acorns, in Spain, Portugal and the New Forest region of southern England, pigs are still turned loose in dehesas in the autumn, to fill and fatten themselves on acorns. Heavy consumption of acorns can, on the hand, be toxic to other animals that cannot detoxify their tannins, such as horses. The larvae of moths and weevils also live in young acorns. Acorns are attractive to animals because they are large and thus efficiently consumed or cached, Acorns are also rich in nutrients. Percentages vary from species to species, but all acorns contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as well as the calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Total food energy in an acorn also varies by species, but all well with other wild foods. Acorns also contain bitter tannins, the amount varying with the species, since tannins, which are plant polyphenols, interfere with an animals ability to metabolize protein, creatures must adapt in different ways to use the nutritional value acorns contain. Animals may preferentially select acorns that contain fewer tannins, when the tannins are metabolized in cattle, the tannic acid produced can cause ulceration and kidney failure. Animals that cache acorns, such as jays and squirrels, may wait to consume some of these acorns until sufficient groundwater has percolated through them to leach out the tannins, other animals buffer their acorn diet with other foods. Many insects, birds, and mammals metabolize tannins with fewer ill effects than do humans, species of acorn that contain large amounts of tannins are very bitter, astringent, and potentially irritating if eaten raw. This is particularly true of the acorns of American red oaks, the acorns of white oaks, being much lower in tannins, are nutty in flavor, this characteristic is enhanced if the acorns are given a light roast before grinding. Tannins can be removed by soaking chopped acorns in several changes of water, being rich in fat, acorn flour can spoil or molder easily and must be carefully stored
31.
Araucariaceae
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The Araucariaceae, commonly referred to as araucarians, are a very ancient family of coniferous trees. The group achieved its maximum diversity in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, at the end of the Cretaceous, when the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct, so did most of the Araucariaceae in the Northern Hemisphere. The group is now confined to the Southern Hemisphere, except for a few species of Agathis in Southeast Asia. Members of Araucariaceae are typically very tall trees, reaching heights of 60 m or more. They can also very large stem diameters, a New Zealand kauri tree named Tāne Mahuta has been measured at 45.2 m tall with a diameter at breast height of 491 cm. Its total wood volume is calculated to be 516.7 m3, making it the third-largest conifer after Sequoia, the trunks are columnar and have relatively large piths with resinous cortices. The branching is usually horizontal and tiered, arising regularly in whorls of three to seven branches or alternating in widely separated pairs, the leaves can be small, needle-like, and curved, or they can be large, broadly ovate, and flattened. They are spirally arranged, persistent, and usually have parallel venation, like other conifers, they produce cones. Each tree can have both male and female cones or they can have only male or female cones, male cones are among the largest among all conifer cones, on average. They are cylindrical and drooping, somewhat and they are borne singly on the tips of branches or the axils of leaves. They contain numerous sporophylls arranged in whorls or spirals, each has four to 20 elongated pollen sacs attached to the lower surface at one end. The pollen grains are round and do not possess wings or air sacs, female cones are also very large. They are spherical to ovoid in shape and borne erect on thick, the numerous bracts and scales are either fused to each other or separate for half of their lengths. The scales almost always only one seed on its upper surface. They are very large, among the largest seeds among conifers and they are dispersed by wind, usually using wing-like structures. On maturity, the female cones detach and fall to the ground, due to their size, they can cause serious injuries if they hit a person. The cones of the bunya bunya, Araucaria bidwillii, for example, weigh 10 to 15 lb, about the size and they can drop from heights of 23 m. Araucariaceae is classified under the order Pinales, class Pinopsida of the division Pinophyta, the division includes all living conifers
32.
Fabaceae
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The Fabaceae, Leguminosae or Papilionaceae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, the five largest of the genera are Astragalus, Acacia, Indigofera, Crotalaria and Mimosa, which constitute about a quarter of all legume species. The ca.19,000 known legume species amount to about 7% of flowering plant species, Fabaceae is the most common family found in tropical rainforests and in dry forests in the Americas and Africa. Recent molecular and morphological evidence supports the fact that the Fabaceae is a monophyletic family. These studies confirm that the Fabaceae are a group that is closely related to the Polygalaceae, Surianaceae and Quillajaceae families. Along with the cereals, some fruits and tropical roots a number of Leguminosae have been a human food for millennia. A number of species are also weedy pests in different parts of the world, including, Cytisus scoparius, Robinia pseudoacacia, Ulex europaeus, Pueraria lobata, the name Fabaceae comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included in Vicia. The term faba comes from Latin, and appears to simply mean bean, Leguminosae is an older name still considered valid, and refers to the fruit of these plants, which are called legumes. Fabaceae range in habit from giant trees to small annual herbs, plants have indeterminate inflorescences, which are sometimes reduced to a single flower. The flowers have a short hypanthium and a single carpel with a short gynophore, the Leguminosae have a wide variety of growth forms including trees, shrubs or herbaceous plants or even vines or lianas. The herbaceous plants can be annuals, biennials or perennials, without basal or terminal leaf aggregations and they are upright plants, epiphytes or vines. The latter support themselves by means of shoots that twist around a support or through cauline or foliar tendrils, plants can be heliophytes, mesophytes or xerophytes. The leaves are alternate and compound. Most often they are even- or odd-pinnately compound, often trifoliate and rarely palmately compound, in the Mimosoideae and they always have stipules, which can be leaf-like, thorn-like or be rather inconspicuous. Leaf margins are entire or, occasionally, serrate, both the leaves and the leaflets often have wrinkled pulvini to permit nastic movements. In some species, leaflets have evolved into tendrils, many species have leaves with structures that attract ants that protect the plant from herbivore insects. Extrafloral nectaries are common among the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae, and are found in some Faboideae. In some Acacia, the modified hollow stipules are inhabited by ants and are known as domatia, many Fabaceae host bacteria in their roots within structures called root nodules
33.
Lilium
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Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world, most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though their range extends into the northern subtropics. Many other plants have lily in their name but are not related to true lilies. Lilies are tall perennials ranging in height from 2–6 ft and they form naked or tunicless scaly underground bulbs which are their overwintering organs. In some North American species the base of the bulb develops into rhizomes, most bulbs are deeply buried, but a few species form bulbs near the soil surface. With these, the bulb grows naturally at some depth in the soil and these roots are in addition to the basal roots that develop at the base of the bulb. The flowers are large, often fragrant, and come in a range of colours including whites, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds, markings include spots and brush strokes. The plants are late spring- or summer-flowering, flowers are borne in racemes or umbels at the tip of the stem, with six tepals spreading or reflexed, to give flowers varying from funnel shape to a Turks cap. The tepals are free from other, and bear a nectary at the base of each flower. The ovary is superior, borne above the point of attachment of the anthers, the fruit is a three-celled capsule. They exhibit varying and sometimes complex patterns, many adapted to cool temperate climates. Naturally most cool temperate species are deciduous and dormant in winter in their native environment, the basic chromosome number is twelve. 2007, the taxonomy of Chinese species follows the Flora of China and these genera include Cardiocrinum, Notholirion, Nomocharis and Fritillaria. The botanic name Lilium is the Latin form and is a Linnaean name, the Latin name is derived from the Greek λείριον, leírion, generally assumed to refer to true, white lilies as exemplified by the Madonna lily. The word was borrowed from Coptic hleri, from standard hreri, from Demotic hrry, meillet maintains that both the Egyptian and the Greek word are possible loans from an extinct, substratum language of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks also used the word κρῖνον, krīnon, albeit for non-white lilies, all English translations of the Bible render the Hebrew shūshan, shōshan, shōshannā as lily, but the lily among the thorns of Song of Solomon, for instance, may be the honeysuckle. For a list of species described as lilies, see Lily. The range of lilies in the Old World extends across much of Europe, across most of Asia to Japan, south to India, and east to Indochina, in the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States
34.
Phaseolus vulgaris
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Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seed or unripe fruit. Raw or undercooked beans contain the toxin phytohaemagglutinin and its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. The common bean is a variable species that has a long history of cultivation. All wild members of the species have a habit, but many cultivars are classified as bush beans or pole beans. These include the bean, the navy bean, the pinto bean. The other major types of commercially grown bean are the runner bean, Beans are grown in every continent except Antarctica. Brazil and India are the largest producers of dry beans, while China produces, by far, worldwide,23 million tonnes of dry common beans and 17.1 million tonnes of green beans were grown in 2010. Along with squash and maize, beans are one of the Three Sisters central to indigenous North American agriculture, the common bean is a highly variable species with a long history. Bush varieties form erect bushes 20–60 cm tall, while pole or running varieties form vines 2–3 m long, all varieties bear alternate, green or purple leaves, which are divided into three oval, smooth-edged leaflets, each 6–15 cm long and 3–11 cm wide. The white, pink, or purple flowers are about 1 cm long and these may be green, yellow, black, or purple in color, each containing 4–6 beans. The beans are smooth, plump, kidney-shaped, up to 1.5 cm long, range widely in color, and are often mottled in two or more colors. Similar to other beans, the bean is high in starch, protein, and dietary fiber, and is an excellent source of iron, potassium, selenium, molybdenum, thiamine, vitamin B6. Dry beans will keep indefinitely if stored in a cool, dry place, dried beans are almost always cooked by boiling, often after being soaked in water for several hours. While the soaking is not strictly necessary, it shortens cooking time, in addition, soaking beans removes 5 to 10% of the gas-producing sugars that can cause flatulence for some people. The methods include simple overnight soaking and the power soak method in which beans are boiled for three minutes and then set aside for 2–4 hours, before cooking, the soaking water is drained off and discarded. Dry common beans take longer to cook than most pulses, cooking times vary from one to four hours, in Mexico, Central America, and South America, the traditional spice used with beans is epazote, which is also said to aid digestion. In East Asia, a type of seaweed, kombu, is added to beans as they cook for the same purpose, salt, sugar, and acidic foods such as tomatoes may harden uncooked beans, resulting in seasoned beans at the expense of slightly longer cooking times. Dry beans may also be cooked and canned as refried beans, or whole with water, salt
35.
Phaseolus coccineus
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Phaseolus coccineus, known as runner bean, scarlet runner bean, or multiflora bean, is a plant in the legume or Fabaceae family. It is grown both as a plant and an ornamental plant. This species originated from the mountains of Central America, most varieties have red flowers and multicolored seeds, and they are often grown as ornamental plants. The vine can grow to 3 m or more in length and it differs from the common bean in several respects, the cotyledons stay in the ground during germination, and the plant is a perennial vine with tuberous roots. The knife-shaped pods are green, however, there are very rare varieties bred by amateurs that have very unusual purple pods. An example of such a purple-podded runner bean is Aeron Purple Star, Runner beans have also been called Oregon lima bean, and in Nahuatl ayocotl or in Spanish ayocote. Runner beans, like all beans contain the toxic protein phytohaemagglutinin, in the US, in 1978, the scarlet runner was widely grown for its attractive flowers primarily as an ornamental. Since that time, many US gardeners have adopted the bean as a member of the vegetable garden. The flower is known as a favourite of hummingbirds, in the UK - where the vegetable is a popular choice for kitchen gardens and allotments - the flowers are often ignored, or treated as an attractive bonus to cultivating the plant for the beans. The seeds of the plant can be used fresh or as dried beans, the pods are edible whole while they are young and not yet fibrous. The starchy roots are eaten by Central American Indians. The beans are used in many cuisines and it is a popular side vegetable in British cuisine. A variety named Judión de la Granja producing large, white, edible beans is cultivated in San Ildefonso, Spain. It is the basis of a Segovian regional dish also named Judiones de la Granja, in which the beans are mixed with pigs ears, pigs trotters, in Greece, cultivars of the runner bean with white blossom and white beans are known as fasolia gigantes. They are grown under protective law in the north of Greece within the regions of Kato Nevrokopi, Florina, the beans have an important role in Greek cuisine, appearing in many dishes. In English, they are colloquially referred to as elephant beans. In Austria the coloured versions are cultivated and served as Käferbohnen and it is considered a typical dish of regional Austrian cuisine, but dried runner beans are also consumed to a small extent in Germany. Greece and northern Africa are the sources of pods of the runner beans sold as green beans in European markets during the cold period, the pods can be identified by their big size and the rougher surface
36.
Marcello Malpighi
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Marcello Malpighi was an Italian biologist and physician, who is referred to as the Father of microscopical anatomy, histology, physiology and embryology. The splenic lymphoid nodules are often called the Malpighian bodies of the spleen or Malpighian corpuscles, the botanical family Malpighiaceae is also named after him. He was the first person to see capillaries in animals, Malpighi was one of the earliest people to observe red blood cells under a microscope, after Jan Swammerdam. His treatise De polypo cordis was important for understanding blood composition, in it, Malpighi described how the form of a blood clot differed in the right against the left sides of the heart. The use of the microscope enabled Malpighi to discover that invertebrates do not use lungs to breathe, Malpighi also studied the anatomy of the brain and concluded this organ is a gland. In terms of modern endocrinology, this deduction is correct because the hypothalamus of the brain has long recognized for its hormone-secreting capacity. Because Malpighi had a knowledge of both plants and animals, he made contributions to the scientific study of both. The Royal Society of London published two volumes of his botanical and zoological works in 1675 and 1679, another edition followed in 1687, and a supplementary volume in 1697. In his autobiography, Malpighi speaks of his Anatome Plantarum, decorated with the engravings of Robert White and his study of plants led him to conclude that plants had tubules similar to those he saw in insects like the silk worm. Malpighi was born on 10 March 1628 at Crevalcore near Bologna, the son of well-to-do parents, Malpighi was educated in his native city, entering the University of Bologna at the age of 17. He completed these studies about 1649, where at the persuasion of his mother Frances Natalis, when his parents and grandmother became ill, he returned to his family home near Bologna to care for them. Malpighi studied Aristotelian philosophy at the University of Bologna while he was very young, despite opposition from the university authorities because he was non-Bolognese by birth, in 1653 he was granted doctorates in both medicine and philosophy. He later graduated as a doctor at the age of 25. Subsequently, he was appointed as a teacher, whereupon he immediately dedicated himself to study in anatomy. For most of his career, Malpighi combined an intense interest in research with a fond love of teaching. He was invited to correspond with the Royal Society in 1667 by Henry Oldenburg, in 1656, Ferdinand II of Tuscany invited him to the professorship of theoretical medicine at the University of Pisa. There Malpighi began his friendship with Giovanni Borelli, mathematician and naturalist. Malpighi questioned the prevailing medical teachings at Pisa, tried experiments on changes in blood, and attempted to recast anatomical, physiological
37.
John Ray
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John Ray was an English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray, from then on, he used Ray, after having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him. He published important works on botany, zoology, and natural theology and his classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum, was an important step towards modern taxonomy. He was the first to give a definition of the term species. John Ray was born in the village of Black Notley in Essex and he is said to have been born in the smithy, his father having been the village blacksmith. He was sent at the age of sixteen to Cambridge University, studying at Trinity College and his tutor at Trinity was James Duport, and his intimate friend and fellow-pupil the celebrated Isaac Barrow. Ray was chosen fellow of Trinity in 1649, and later major fellow. Among these sermons were his discourses on The wisdom of God manifested in the works of the creation, Ray was also highly regarded as a tutor. He communicated his own passion for history to several pupils. His religious views were generally in accord with those imposed under the restoration of Charles II of England, from this time onwards he seems to have depended chiefly on the bounty of his pupil Francis Willughby, who made Ray his constant companion while he lived. Willughby arranged that after his death, Ray would have 6 shillings a year for educating Willughbys two sons, from this tour Ray and Willughby returned laden with collections, on which they meant to base complete systematic descriptions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The plants gathered on his British tours had already described in his Catalogus plantarum Angliae. In 1667 Ray was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1669 he, in 1671, he presented the research of Francis Jessop on formic acid to the Royal Society. In this volume, he moved on from the naming and cataloguing of species like his successor Carl Linnaeus, instead, Ray considered species lives and how nature worked as a whole, giving facts that are arguments for Gods will expressed in His creation of all visible and invisible. Ray gave a description of dendrochronology, explaining for the ash tree how to find its age from its tree-rings. In 1673 Ray married Margaret Oakley of Launton, in 1676 he went to Middleton Hall near Tamworth, finally, in 1679, he removed to Black Notley, where he afterwards remained. His life there was quiet and uneventful, although he had poor health, Ray kept writing books and corresponded widely on scientific matters. He lived, in spite of his infirmities, to the age of seventy-seven, Ray was the first person to produce a biological definition of species, in his 1686 History of plants
38.
Systematics
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Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees, phylogenies have two components, branching order and branch length. Phylogenetic trees of species and higher taxa are used to study the evolution of traits, Systematics, in other words, is used to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth. John Lindley provided a definition of systematics in 1830, although he wrote of systematic botany rather than using the term systematics. This is a field with a history that in recent years has experienced a notable renaissance. Part of the material has to do with evolutionary areas. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics to above, however, in modern usage, they can all be considered synonyms of each other. For example, Websters 9th New Collegiate Dictionary of 1987 treats classification, taxonomy, according to this work the terms originated in 1790, c. Europeans tend to use the terms systematics and biosystematics for the field of the study of biodiversity as a whole, all of these biological disciplines can deal both with extinct and with extant organisms. Scientific classifications are aids in recording and reporting information to other scientists, the systematist, a scientist who specializes in systematics, must, therefore, be able to use existing classification systems, or at least know them well enough to skilfully justify not using them. Phenetics was an attempt to determine the relationships of organisms through a measure of overall similarity, from the late-20th century onwards, it was superseded by cladistics, which rejects plesiomorphies in attempting to resolve the phylogeny of Earths various organisms through time. Todays systematists generally make use of molecular biology and of computer programs to study organisms. Taxonomic characters are the attributes that can be used to provide the evidence from which relationships between taxa are inferred. Adaptation, or evolutionary mechanisms Scientific classification and Taxonomy - the result of research in systematics Schuh, Randall T. biological Systematics, Principles and Applications, 2nd edn. ISBN 978-0-8014-4799-0 Simpson, Michael G.2005, ISBN 978-0-12-644460-5 Society of Australian Systematic Biologists Society of Systematic Biologists Willi Hennig Society
39.
Theophrastus
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Theophrastus, a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at an age and initially studied in Platos school. After Platos death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus his writings, when Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as at the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants, after his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus, the interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, in philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotles work on logic. He also regarded space as the arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue and he was a native of Eresos in Lesbos. His given name was Tyrtamus, but he became known by the nickname Theophrastus, given to him, it is said. After receiving instruction in philosophy in Lesbos from one Alcippus, he moved to Athens and he became friends with Aristotle, and when Plato died Theophrastus may have joined Aristotle in his self-imposed exile from Athens. When Aristotle moved to Mytilene on Lesbos in 345/4, it is likely that he did so at the urging of Theophrastus. It seems that it was on Lesbos that Aristotle and Theophrastus began their research into science, with Aristotle studying animals. Theophrastus probably accompanied Aristotle to Macedonia when Aristotle was appointed tutor to Alexander the Great in 343/2, around 335 BC, Theophrastus moved with Aristotle to Athens where Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. Aristotle in his will made him guardian of his children, including Nicomachus with whom he was close, Aristotle likewise bequeathed to him his library and the originals of his works, and designated him as his successor at the Lyceum. Eudemus of Rhodes also had claims to this position. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for years, and died at the age of eighty-five according to Diogenes
40.
Albertus Magnus
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Albertus Magnus, O. P. also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar and Catholic bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his lifetime as doctor universalis and doctor expertus and, late in his life, the term magnus was appended to his name. Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl and Joachim R. Söder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher, the Catholic Church distinguishes him as one of the 36 Doctors of the Church. It seems likely that Albert was born sometime before 1200, given well-attested evidence that he was aged over 80 on his death in 1280. More than one source says that Albert was 87 on his death, Albert was probably born in Lauingen, since he called himself Albert of Lauingen, but this might simply be a family name. Most probably his family was of class, his familiar connection with Bollstädt noble family was a 15th-century misinterpretation that is now completely disproved. Albert was probably educated principally at the University of Padua, where he received instruction in Aristotles writings, a late account by Rudolph de Novamagia refers to Albertus encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who convinced him to enter Holy Orders. In 1223 he became a member of the Dominican Order, and studied theology at Bologna and elsewhere. Selected to fill the position of lecturer at Cologne, Germany, where the Dominicans had a house, he taught for years there, as well as in Regensburg, Freiburg, Strasbourg. During his first tenure as lecturer at Cologne, Albert wrote his Summa de bono after discussion with Philip the Chancellor concerning the properties of being. In 1245, Albert became master of theology under Gueric of Saint-Quentin, following this turn of events, Albert was able to teach theology at the University of Paris as a full-time professor, holding the seat of the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James. During this time Thomas Aquinas began to study under Albertus, Albert was the first to comment on virtually all of the writings of Aristotle, thus making them accessible to wider academic debate. The study of Aristotle brought him to study and comment on the teachings of Muslim academics, notably Avicenna and Averroes, in 1254 Albert was made provincial of the Dominican Order, and fulfilled the duties of the office with great care and efficiency. During the exercise of his duties he enhanced his reputation for humility by refusing to ride a horse, in accord with the dictates of the Order and this earned him the affectionate sobriquet boots the bishop from his parishioners. In 1263 Pope Urban IV relieved him of the duties of bishop, after this, he was especially known for acting as a mediator between conflicting parties. Among the last of his labors was the defense of the orthodoxy of his pupil, Thomas Aquinas. After suffering a collapse of health in 1278, he died on November 15,1280, in the Dominican convent in Cologne, since November 15,1954, his relics are in a Roman sarcophagus in the crypt of the Dominican St. Andreas Church in Cologne. Although his body was discovered to be incorrupt at the first exhumation three years after his death, at the exhumation in 1483 only a skeleton remained
41.
Carl Linnaeus
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Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalised the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the father of modern taxonomy. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus, Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his education at Uppsala University. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands and he then returned to Sweden, where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, at the time of his death, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message, Tell him I know no man on earth. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, Swedish author August Strindberg wrote, Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist. Among other compliments, Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum, The Pliny of the North and he is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology. In botany, the abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species names is L. In older publications, sometimes the abbreviation Linn. is found, Linnæus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus Ingemarsson and Christina Brodersonia and his siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus, and Emerentia Linnæa. One of a line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius, a year after Linnæus birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curates house, even in his early years, Linnæus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus, soon Linnæus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants
42.
Placental cotyledon
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The Artiodactyla have a cotyledonary placenta. In this form of placenta the chorionic villi form a number of circular structures which are distributed over the surface of the chorionic sac. Sheep, goats and cattle have between 72 and 125 cotyledons whereas deer have 4-6 larger cotyledons, the form of the human placenta is generally classified as a discoid placenta. Within this the cotyledons are the approximately 15-25 separations of the decidua basalis of the placenta, each cotyledon consists of a main stem of a chorionic villus as well as its branches and subbranches etc. The cotyledons receive fetal blood from chorionic vessels, which branch off cotyledon vessels into the cotyledons, the cotyledons are surrounded by maternal blood, which can exchange oxygen and nutrients with the fetal blood in the capillaries
43.
Sydney Howard Vines
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Sydney Howard Vines FRS was a British botanist and academic. He was Sherardian Professor of Botany at Oxford University from 1888 to 1919 and he directed the publication of the Annals of Botany from 1887 to 1899. Vines studied at Christs College, Cambridge, obtaining his Bachelor of Science in 1873, Bachelor of Arts in 1876, Master of Arts in 1879 and he became a member of the Linnean Society of London in 1885. Vines works include, Lectures on the physiology of plants, Science Lectures at South Kensington, An Elementary Text-Book of Botany. A Course of Practical Instruction in Botany, Text-book of Botany, Morphological and Physical, An Account of the Herbarium of the University of Oxford. An Elementary Text-book of Botany, From the German of Dr. K. Prantl and his parents birthnames were William Reynolds and Jessie Robertson. He married an Agnes Bertha Perry in 1884, the Vines, Oxford was built for him
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