1.
Genus
–
A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology. In the hierarchy of classification, genus comes above species. In binomial nomenclature, the name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. Felis catus and Felis silvestris are two species within the genus Felis, Felis is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist, the standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. Moreover, genera should be composed of units of the same kind as other genera. The term comes from the Latin genus, a noun form cognate with gignere, linnaeus popularized its use in his 1753 Species Plantarum, but the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort is considered the founder of the modern concept of genera. The scientific name of a genus may be called the name or generic epithet. It plays a role in binomial nomenclature, the system of naming organisms. The rules for the names of organisms are laid down in the Nomenclature Codes. The standard way of scientifically describing species and other lower-ranked taxa is by binomial nomenclature, the generic name forms its first half. For example, the gray wolfs binomial name is Canis lupus, with Canis being the name shared by the wolfs close relatives. The specific name is written in lower-case and may be followed by names in zoology or a variety of infraspecific names in botany. Especially with these names, when the generic name is known from context. Because animals are typically only grouped within subspecies, it is written as a trinomen with a third name. Dog breeds, meanwhile, are not scientifically distinguished, there are several divisions of plant species and therefore their infraspecific names generally include contractions explaining the relation. For example, the genus Hibiscus includes hundreds of other species apart from the Rose of Sharon or common garden hibiscus, Rose of Sharon doesnt have subspecies but has cultivars that carry desired traits, such as the bright white H. syriaca Diana. Hawaiian hibiscus, meanwhile, includes several separate species, since not all botanists agree on the divisions or names between species, it is common to specify the source of the name using author abbreviations
Genus
–
Number of reptile genera with a given number of species. Most genera have only one or a few species but a few may have hundreds. Based on data from the
Reptile Database (as of May 2015).
2.
Avena
–
Avena is a genus of Eurasian and African plants in the grass family. Collectively known as the oats, they include some species which have been cultivated for thousands of years as a source for humans. They are widespread throughout Europe, Asia and northwest Africa, several species have become naturalized in many parts of the world, and are regarded as invasive weeds where they compete with crop production. All oats have edible seeds, though they are small and hard to harvest in most species, see Oat for a more detailed discussion of the oat as a food source. Avena species, including cultivated oats, are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Rustic Shoulder-knot, for diseases of oats, see List of oat diseases. Cultivated oats One species is of commercial importance as a cereal grain. Four other species are grown as crops of minor or regional importance, avena nuda – the naked oat or hulless oat, which plays much the same role in Europe as does A. abyssinica in Ethiopia. It is sometimes included in A. sativa and was grown in Europe before the latter replaced it. As its nutrient content is better than that of the common oat, A. nuda has increased in significance in recent years. They are known as wild oats or oat-grasses, a specific herbicide must be used. The costs of this herbicide and the length of time it must be used to reduce the weed is significant, apparently, a similar expression was used in Roman Republican times, possibly by Plautus. The origin of the expression is the fact that wild oats, among European cereal grains, oats are hardest to tell apart from their weedy relatives, which look almost alike but yield little grain. The life cycle of A. fatua is nearly synchronous with that of common oat, historically, growers could control the weed only by checking the crop plants one by one and hand-weeding. Consequently, sowing wild oats became a phrase to describe unprofitable activities, List of Poaceae genera Quinion, Michael, World Wide Words, Sow ones wild oats. Zohary, Daniel & Hopf, Maria, Domestication of plants in the Old World
Avena
–
oats
3.
Inflorescence
–
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed. Inflorescence can also be defined as the portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern. The stem holding the whole inflorescence is called a peduncle and the major axis holding the flowers or more branches within the inflorescence is called the rachis, the stalk of each single flower is called a pedicel. A flower that is not part of an inflorescence is called a solitary flower, any flower in an inflorescence may be referred to as a floret, especially when the individual flowers are particularly small and borne in a tight cluster, such as in a pseudanthium. The fruiting stage of an inflorescence is known as an infructescence, inflorescences may be simple or complex. The rachis may be one of several types, including Single, Composite, Umbel and these terms are general representations as plants in nature can have a combination of types. Inflorescences usually have modified shoots foliage different from the part of the plant. Considering the broadest meaning of the term, any leaf associated with an inflorescence is called a bract. A bract is usually located at the node where the stem of the inflorescence forms, joined to the main stem of the plant. They serve a variety of functions which include attracting pollinators and protecting young flowers, according to the presence or absence of bracts and their characteristics we can distinguish, Ebracteate inflorescences, No bracts in the inflorescence. Bracteate inflorescences, The bracts in the inflorescence are very specialised, sometimes reduced to small scales and this use is not technically correct, as, despite their normal appearance, these leaves are considered, in fact, bracts, so that leafy inflorescence is preferable. Leafy-bracted inflorescences, Intermediate between bracteate and leafy inflorescence, if many bracts are present and they are strictly connected to the stem, like in the family Asteraceae, the bracts might collectively be called an involucre. If the inflorescence has a unit of bracts further up the stem. Plant organs can grow according to two different schemes, namely monopodial or racemose and sympodial or cymose, the terminal bud keeps growing and forming lateral flowers. A terminal flower is never formed, the terminal bud forms a terminal flower and then dies out. Other flowers then grow from lateral buds, indeterminate and determinate inflorescences are sometimes referred to as open and closed inflorescences respectively. In an indeterminate inflorescence there is no true terminal flower and the stem usually has a rudimentary end, in many cases the last true flower formed by the terminal bud straightens up, appearing to be a terminal flower
Inflorescence
–
Aloe hereroensis, showing inflorescence with branched
peduncle
Inflorescence
–
Ebracteate of
Wisteria sinensis
Inflorescence
–
Bracteate inflorescence of
Pedicularis verticillata.
Inflorescence
–
Leafy-bracted inflorescence of
Rhinanthus angustifolius.
4.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Title page of
Systema Naturae, Leiden, 1735
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Evolution of the
vertebrates at class level, width of spindles indicating number of families. Spindle diagrams are typical for
Evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy (biology)
–
The same relationship, expressed as a
cladogram typical for
cladistics
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Type specimen for
Nepenthes smilesii, a tropical
pitcher plant.
5.
Plantae
–
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
Plantae
–
Green algae from
Ernst Haeckel 's
Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.
Plantae
–
Had'n
Plantae
–
Dicksonia antarctica, a species of
tree fern
Plantae
–
A petrified log in
Petrified Forest National Park.
6.
Angiosperms
–
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
Angiosperms
Angiosperms
–
Bud of a pink
rose
Angiosperms
–
Flowers of
Malus sylvestris (crab apple)
Angiosperms
–
Flowers and leaves of
Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda buttercup)
7.
Monocots
–
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
Monocots
Monocots
–
Comparison of a monocot and dicot sprouting. Note that the visible part of the monocot plant (left) is actually the first true leaf produced from the
meristem; the cotyledon itself remains within the seed.
Monocots
–
Allium crenulatum, an onion, with a typical monocot
perianth and parallel leaf venation
Monocots
–
Slice of onion, showing parallel veins in cross section
8.
Commelinids
–
In plant taxonomy, commelinids is a name used by the APG III system for a clade within the monocots, which in its turn is a clade within the angiosperms. The commelinids are the clade that the APG has informally named within the monocots. The remaining monocots are a paraphyletic unit, also known as the commelinid monocots it forms one of three groupings within the monocots, and the final branch, the other two groups being the alismatid monocots and the lilioid monocots. Members of the clade have cell walls containing UV-fluorescent ferulic acid. The commelinids were first recognized as a group in 1967 by Armen Takhtajan. However, by the release of his 1980 system of classification, the commelinids constitute a well-supported clade within the monocots, and this clade has been recognized in all four APG classification systems. The commelinids of APG II and APG III contain essentially the same plants as the commelinoids of the earlier APG system, in APG IV the family Dasypogonaceae is no longer directly placed under commelinids but instead a family of order Arecales. Media related to Commelinids at Wikimedia Commons
Commelinids
–
commelinids
9.
Poales
–
The Poales are a large order of flowering plants in the monocotyledons, and includes families of plants such as the grasses, bromeliads, and sedges. Sixteen plant families are recognized by botanists to be part of Poales. The flowers are small, enclosed by bracts, and arranged in inflorescences. The flowers of species are wind pollinated, the seeds usually contain starch. It did not include the Bromeliaceae and Mayaceae, but had the additional families Prioniaceae, Sparganiaceae, the morphology-based Cronquist system did not include an order named Poales, assigning these families to the orders Bromeliales, Cyperales, Hydatellales, Juncales, Restionales and Typhales. The earliest known fossils include pollen and fruits, major lineages within the Poales have been referred to as bromeliad, cyperid, xyrid, graminid, and restiid clades. A phylogenetic analysis resolved most relationships within the order but found support for the monophyly of the cyperid clade. The relationship between Centrolepidaceae and Restoniaceae within the clade remains unclear, the first may actually be embedded in the latter. Within the order, by far the most important family economically is the family of grasses, which includes barley, maize, millet, rice, many Bromeliaceae are used as ornamental plants. Bremer, K. Gondwanan Evolution of the Grass Alliance of Families, judd, W. S. C. S. Campbell, E. A. Kellogg, P. F. Stevens, M. J. Donoghue. Plant Systematics, A Phylogenetic Approach, 2nd edition, linder, H. Peter, Rudall, Paula J. Evolutionary History of the Poales. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, flora of the Southeastern United States,48
Poales
Poales
–
Setaria verticillata from family
Poaceae
Poales
–
Billbergia pyramidalis of family
Bromeliaceae
10.
Poaceae
–
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
Poaceae
Poaceae
–
Grass flowers
Poaceae
–
Setaria verticillata from
Panicoideae
Poaceae
–
Tragus roxburghii from
Chloridoideae
11.
Binomial nomenclature
–
Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
Binomial nomenclature
–
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), a Swedish botanist, invented the modern system of binomial nomenclature.
12.
Carl Linnaeus
–
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
Carl Linnaeus
–
Carl von Linné,
Alexander Roslin, 1775. Oil painting in the portrait collection at
Gripsholm Castle
Carl Linnaeus
–
The
coat of arms of Carl von Linné.
Carl Linnaeus
–
Birthplace of Linnæus at
Råshult
Carl Linnaeus
–
Statue of Linnaeus as a University student in
Lund
13.
Species
–
In biology, a species is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. While this definition is often adequate, looked at more closely it is problematic, for example, with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, or in a ring species, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear. Other ways of defining species include similarity of DNA, morphology, all species are given a two-part name, a binomial. The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs, the second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet. For example, Boa constrictor is one of four species of the Boa genus, Species were seen from the time of Aristotle until the 18th century as fixed kinds that could be arranged in a hierarchy, the great chain of being. In the 19th century, biologists grasped that species could evolve given sufficient time, Charles Darwins 1859 book The Origin of Species explained how species could arise by natural selection. Genes can sometimes be exchanged between species by horizontal transfer, and species may become extinct for a variety of reasons. In his biology, Aristotle used the term γένος to mean a kind, such as a bird or fish, a kind was distinguished by its attributes, for instance, a bird has feathers, a beak, wings, a hard-shelled egg, and warm blood. A form was distinguished by being shared by all its members, Aristotle believed all kinds and forms to be distinct and unchanging. His approach remained influential until the Renaissance, when observers in the Early Modern period began to develop systems of organization for living things, they placed each kind of animal or plant into a context. Many of these early delineation schemes would now be considered whimsical, animals likewise that differ specifically preserve their distinct species permanently, one species never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa. In the 18th century, the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus classified organisms according to shared physical characteristics and he established the idea of a taxonomic hierarchy of classification based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. At the time, however, it was widely believed that there was no organic connection between species, no matter how similar they appeared. However, whether or not it was supposed to be fixed, by the 19th century, naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in his 1809 Zoological Philosophy, described the transmutation of species, proposing that a species could change over time, in 1859, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided a compelling account of evolution and the formation of new species. Darwin argued that it was populations that evolved, not individuals and this required a new definition of species. Darwin concluded that species are what appear to be, ideas
Species
–
John Ray
Species
–
Carl Linnaeus believed in the fixity of species.
14.
Cereal
–
A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain, composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grains are grown in quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop and are therefore staple crops. Edible grains from plant families, such as buckwheat, quinoa. In their natural form, cereals are a source of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils. When refined by the removal of the bran and germ, the endosperm is mostly carbohydrate. In some developing nations, grain in the form of rice, wheat, millet, in developed nations, cereal consumption is moderate and varied but still substantial. The word cereal is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvest, agriculture allowed for the support of an increased population, leading to larger societies and eventually the development of cities. It also created the need for organization of political power, as decisions had to be made regarding labor and harvest allocation and access rights to water. Agriculture bred immobility, as populations settled down for long periods of time, early Neolithic villages show evidence of the development of processing grain. The Levant is the ancient home of the ancestors of wheat, barley and peas, there is evidence of the cultivation of figs in the Jordan Valley as long as 11,300 years ago, and cereal production in Syria approximately 9,000 years ago. During the same period, farmers in China began to farm rice and millet, using man-made floods, fiber crops were domesticated as early as food crops, with China domesticating hemp, cotton being developed independently in Africa and South America, and Western Asia domesticating flax. The first cereal grains were domesticated by early primitive humans, about 8,000 years ago, they were domesticated by ancient farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region. Emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley were three of the so-called Neolithic founder crops in the development of agriculture, around the same time, millets and rices were starting to become domesticated in East Asia. Sorghum and millets were also being domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, while each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all cereal crops is similar. Most are annual plants, consequently one planting yields one harvest, wheat, rye, triticale, oats, barley, and spelt are the cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot weather. The warm-season cereals are tender and prefer hot weather, barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to overwinter in the subarctic and Siberia. Many cool-season cereals are grown in the tropics, however, some are only grown in cooler highlands, where it may be possible to grow multiple crops per year
Cereal
–
Cereal
Cereal
–
A wheat field in
Dorset, England
Cereal
–
Cereal
grain seeds from left to right:
wheat,
spelt,
barley,
oat.
Cereal
–
Threshing; Tacuinum Sanitatis, 14th century
15.
Pseudocereals
–
Pseudocereals are non-grasses that are used in much the same way as cereals. Their seed can be ground into flour and otherwise used as cereals, examples of pseudocereals are amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat. The following table shows the production of some pseudocereals in 1961,2010,2011,2012. Other grains that are important, but are not included in FAO statistics, include, Amaranth
Pseudocereals
–
Quinoa is not a grass. Its seeds have been eaten for 6000 years.
16.
Oatmeal
–
Oatmeal is made of hulled oat grains – groats – that have either been ground, steel-cut, or rolled. Ground oats are also called white oats, steel-cut oats are known as coarse oatmeal or Irish oatmeal or pinhead oats. Rolled oats can be thick or thin, and may be old-fashioned or quick or instant. The term oatmeal is used in the U. S. Australia. The oat grains are dehusked by impact, then heated and cooled to stabilize the oat groats – the seed inside the husk, the process of heating produces a nutty flavour in the oats. These oat groats may be milled to produce fine, medium or coarse oatmeal, steel-cut oats may be small and contain broken groats from the dehusking process. Rolled oats are steamed and flattened whole oat groats, old-fashioned oats can be thick and take a while to boil to make porridge. Quick-cooking rolled oats are cut into pieces before being steamed and rolled. Instant oatmeal is precooked and dried, often with a sweetener, such as sugar, both types of rolled oats may be eaten uncooked, as in muesli, or may be cooked with water to make porridge. In some countries, rolled oats are eaten raw with milk and sugar, sometimes with raisins added, Porridge is served in many ways. In some Western countries, porridge is served with milk or cream, the term oatmeal sometimes refers to porridge made from the bran or fibrous husk as well as the oat kernel or groat. Rolled oats are used as a key ingredient in granola breakfast cereals. Rolled oats are used as an ingredient in oatmeal cookies, oatcakes, British flapjack bars and baked oatmeal dessert dishes such as Apple Brown Betty. Oats may also be added to foods as an accent, as in the topping on many oat bran breads, daily consumption of a bowl of oatmeal can lower blood cholesterol, because of its beta-glucan content. After it was reported that oats can help lower cholesterol, an oat bran craze swept the U. S. in the late 1980s, the food craze was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. This is because of the beta-glucan in the oats, Oatmeal porridge also contains more B vitamins and calories than other kinds of porridges. Oatmeal has a history in Scottish culinary tradition because oats are better suited than wheat to the countrys low temperatures. As a result, oats became the grain of Scotland
Oatmeal
–
Rolled oats, a type of oatmeal
Oatmeal
–
Baked oatmeal in a dish
Oatmeal
–
Oatmeal is a prime ingredient of
haggis, seen here at a
Burns supper
17.
Rolled oats
–
Rolled oats are traditionally oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and stabilized by being lightly toasted. Rolled oats that are sold as porridge oats usually have had the tough bran removed and they have often, but not always, been lightly baked or pressure-cooked or processed in some fashion. Thick-rolled oats are large flakes, and thin-rolled oats are smaller. Rolled oats are most often the main ingredient in granola and muesli, rolled oats can be further processed into coarse powder, which, when cooked, becomes a thick broth. Finer oatmeal powder is used as baby food. The oat, like cereals, has a hard, inedible outer husk that must be removed before the grain can be eaten. After the outer husk has been removed from the still bran-covered oat grains, steel-cut or pinhead oats are oat groats that have been chopped into smaller pieces before any steaming and thus retain bits of the bran layer. Oat groats are a grain that can be used as a breakfast cereal, just like the various forms of oatmeal, rolled oats. Rolled oats are used in granola, muesli, oatcakes and flapjacks, whole oats are an excellent source of thiamine, iron, and dietary fiber. Whole oats are also the source of antioxidant compounds known as avenanthramides. Oat products also contain beta-glucan, which may help people with Type 2 diabetes control their blood glucose level, muesli Oat milk Oat bran Oatcake Oatmeal Porridge
Rolled oats
–
A tablespoon of rolled oats
18.
Livestock
–
Livestock are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber, and labor. The term is used to refer solely to those raised for food. In recent years, some organizations have also raised livestock to promote the survival of rare breeds, animal husbandry practices have varied widely across cultures and time periods. Originally, livestock were not confined by fences or enclosures, but these practices have largely shifted to intensive animal farming and these practices increase yield of the various commercial outputs, but have led to increased concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact. Livestock production continues to play an economic and cultural role in numerous rural communities. Livestock as a word was first used between 1650 and 1660, as a merger between the live and stock. Older English sources, such as the King James Version of the Bible, the word cattle is derived from Old North French catel, which meant all kinds of movable personal property, including livestock, which was differentiated from immovable real estate. In later English, sometimes smaller livestock such as chickens and pigs were referred to as small cattle, today, the modern meaning of cattle, without a modifier, usually refers to domesticated bovines, but sometimes livestock refers only to this subgroup. Legal definition United States federal legislation sometimes more narrowly defines the term to make specified agricultural commodities either eligible or ineligible for a program or activity, for example, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 defines livestock only as cattle, swine, and sheep. Animal-rearing originated during the transition to settled farming communities from hunter-gatherer lifestyles. Animals are domesticated when their breeding and living conditions are controlled by humans, over time, the collective behaviour, lifecycle and physiology of livestock have changed radically. Many modern farm animals are unsuited to life in the wild, dogs were domesticated in East Asia about 15,000 years ago. Goats and sheep were domesticated around 8000 BC in Asia, swine or pigs were domesticated by 7000 BC in the Middle East and China. The earliest evidence of horse domestication dates to around 4000 BC, the term livestock is nebulous and may be defined narrowly or broadly. Broadly, livestock refers to any breed or population of animal kept by humans for a useful and this can mean domestic animals, semidomestic animals, or captive wild animals. Semidomesticated refers to animals which are only lightly domesticated or of disputed status and these populations may also be in the process of domestication. Some people may use the term livestock to refer to only used for red meat. Livestock are used by humans for a variety of purposes, many of which have an economic value, Livestock products include, Meat A useful form of dietary protein and energy, meat is the edible tissue of the animal carcass
Livestock
–
Domestic sheep and a
cow (heifer) pastured together in
South Africa
Livestock
–
Alpaca Mammal,
herbivore
Livestock
–
Banteng Mammal,
herbivore
Livestock
–
Bison Mammal,
herbivore
19.
Nutrient
–
A nutrient is a component in foods that an organism uses to survive and grow. Macronutrients provide the energy an organisms metabolic system needs to function while micronutrients provide the necessary cofactors for metabolism to be carried out. Both types of nutrients can be acquired from the environment, micronutrients are used to build and repair tissues and to regulate body processes while macronutrients are converted to, and used for, energy. Methods of nutrient intake are different for plants and animals, plants take in nutrients directly from the soil through their roots and from the atmosphere through their leaves. Animals and protists have specialized digestive systems that work to break down macronutrients for energy, organic nutrients consist of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and vitamins. Inorganic chemical compounds such as minerals, water, and oxygen may also be considered nutrients. A nutrient is considered if it must be obtained from an external source either because the organism cannot synthesize it or because insufficient quantities are produced. Nutrients needed in small amounts are called micronutrients while those needed in large quantities are called macronutrients. The effects of nutrients are dose-dependent, shortages are called deficiencies, macronutrients are defined in several different ways. The chemical elements humans consume in the largest quantities are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, the classes of chemical compounds humans consume in the largest quantities and which provide bulk energy are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Water and atmospheric oxygen also must be consumed in large quantities, calcium, salt, magnesium, and potassium are sometimes added to the list of macronutrients because they are required in large quantities compared to other vitamins and minerals. They are sometimes referred to as the macrominerals, carbohydrates are compounds made up of types of sugars. Carbohydrates are classified by their number of units, monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides. Proteins are organic compounds that consist of amino acids joined by peptide bonds, the body cannot manufacture some of the amino acids, the diet must supply them. Proteins, in nutrition, are broken down through digestion by proteases back into free amino acids, fats consist of a glycerin molecule with three fatty acids attached. Fatty acids are unbranched hydrocarbon chains,1 connected by single bonds alone or by double and single bonds. Fats are needed to keep cell membranes functioning properly, to insulate body organs against shock, to body temperature stable. The body does not manufacture certain fatty acids and the diet must supply them, although alcohol provides energy, and can thus be compared to macronutrients, it is not a substance that is essential for normal function
Nutrient
–
Good sources of
magnesium: bran muffins, pumpkin seeds, barley, buckwheat flour, low-fat vanilla yogurt, trail mix, halibut steaks, garbanzo beans, lima beans, soybeans, and spinach
Nutrient
–
Nutrient cycle in the oceans
Nutrient
–
The strip of a green alga (
Enteromorpha) along this shore indicates that there is a nearby source of nutrients (probably
nitrates or
ammonia from a small estuary).
Nutrient
–
Rich sources of
copper: oysters, beef or lamb liver, Brazil nuts, blackstrap molasses, cocoa, and black pepper. Good sources: lobster, nuts and sunflower seeds, green olives, and wheat bran.
20.
Cholesterol
–
Cholesterol, from the Ancient Greek chole- and stereos followed by the chemical suffix -ol for an alcohol, is an organic molecule. Cholesterol enables animal cells to dispense with a wall, thereby allowing animal cells to change shape rapidly. In addition to its importance for cell structure, cholesterol also serves as a precursor for the biosynthesis of steroid hormones, bile acid. Cholesterol is the principal sterol synthesized by all animals, in vertebrates, hepatic cells typically produce the greatest amounts. It is absent among prokaryotes, although there are exceptions, such as Mycoplasma. François Poulletier de la Salle first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones in 1769, however, it was not until 1815 that chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul named the compound cholesterine. Furthermore, it can be absorbed directly from animal-based foods, a human male weighing 68 kg normally synthesizes about 1 gram per day, and his body contains about 35 g, mostly contained within the cell membranes. Typical daily cholesterol dietary intake for a man in the United States is 307 mg, most ingested cholesterol is esterified, and esterified cholesterol is poorly absorbed. The body also compensates for any absorption of cholesterol by reducing cholesterol synthesis. For these reasons, cholesterol in food, seven to ten hours after ingestion, has little and it is also important to recognize, however, that the concentrations measured in the samples of blood plasma vary with the measurement methods used. Cholesterol is recycled in the body, the liver excretes it in a non-esterified form into the digestive tract. Typically, about 50% of the excreted cholesterol is reabsorbed by the small intestine back into the bloodstream, plants make cholesterol in very small amounts. Plants manufacture phytosterols, which can compete with cholesterol for reabsorption in the intestinal tract, when intestinal lining cells absorb phytosterols, in place of cholesterol, they usually excrete the phytosterol molecules back into the GI tract, an important protective mechanism. Cholesterol, given that it composes about 30% of all cell membranes, is required to build. The membrane remains stable and durable without being rigid, allowing cells to change shape. In this structural role, cholesterol also reduces the permeability of the membrane to neutral solutes, hydrogen ions. Within the cell membrane, cholesterol also functions in intracellular transport, cell signaling, cholesterol is essential for the structure and function of invaginated caveolae and clathrin-coated pits, including caveola-dependent and clathrin-dependent endocytosis. The role of cholesterol in endocytosis of these types can be investigated by using methyl beta cyclodextrin to remove cholesterol from the plasma membrane, in multiple layers, cholesterol and phospholipids, both electrical insulators, can facilitate speed of transmission of electrical impulses along nerve tissue
Cholesterol
Cholesterol
–
Cholesterol
Cholesterol
–
Microscopic appearance of cholesterol crystals in water. Photo taken under
polarized light.
Cholesterol
21.
Avenin
–
The oat, sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name. While oats are suitable for consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats. The wild ancestor of Avena sativa and the related minor crop. Genetic evidence shows the forms of A. sterilis grew in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the Near East, oats, like rye, are usually considered a secondary crop, i. e. derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favored the oat weed component, oats are best grown in temperate regions. Oats are a plant, and can be planted either in autumn or in the spring. Oats have numerous uses in foods, most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal, oatmeal is chiefly eaten as porridge, but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes, oatmeal cookies and oat bread. Oats are also an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli, historical attitudes towards oats have varied. Oat bread was first manufactured in Britain, where the first oat bread factory was established in 1899, in Scotland, they were, and still are, held in high esteem, as a mainstay of the national diet. In Scotland, a dish was made by soaking the husks from oats for a week, so the fine, floury part of the meal remained as sediment to be strained off, boiled and eaten. Oats are also used there as a thickener in soups. Oats are also used as feed for horses when extra carbohydrates. The oat hull may be crushed for the horse to easily digest the grain. They may be given alone or as part of a food pellet. Cattle are also fed oats, either whole or ground into a coarse flour using a mill, burr mill. Winter oats may be grown as a groundcover and ploughed under in the spring as a green fertilizer. They also can be used for pasture, they can be grazed a while, then allowed to head out for grain production, Oat straw is prized by cattle and horse producers as bedding, due to its soft, relatively dust-free, and absorbent nature
Avenin
–
Oat
Avenin
–
Closeup of oat florets (small flowers)
Avenin
–
Oat grains in their
husks
Avenin
–
A sample of oat
bran
22.
Gliadin
–
Gliadin is a class of proteins present in wheat and several other cereals within the grass genus Triticum. Gliadins, which are a component of gluten, are essential for giving bread the ability to rise properly during baking, gliadins and glutenins are the two main components of the gluten fraction of the wheat seed. This gluten is found in such as wheat flour. Gluten is split evenly between the gliadins and glutenins, although there are variations found in different sources. Gliadin is the component of gluten, while glutenin is insoluble. There are three types of gliadin, to which the body is intolerant in coeliac disease. Diagnosis of this disease has recently been improving, gliadin can cross the intestinal epithelium. Breast milk of human mothers who eat gluten-containing foods presents high levels of non-degraded gliadin. The α, γ, and ω gliadin types are separated and distinguished based on their amino acid sequences, α-/β-gliadins – soluble in low-percentage alcohols. γ-gliadins – ancestral form of cysteine-rich gliadin with only intrachain disulfide bridges ω-gliadins – soluble in higher percentages, gliadins are prolamins and are separated on the basis of electrophoretic mobility and isoelectric focusing. Gliadins are known for their role, along with glutenin, in the formation of gluten and they are slightly soluble in ethanol and contain only intramolecular disulfide links. They also cause some of the best examples of food-derived pathogenesis, people with gluten-sensitive enteropathy are sensitive to α, β, and γ gliadins. Those with WD urticaria and Bakers asthma are sensitive to ω-gliadins, gliadin can also serve as a useful delivery method for sensitive enzymes – this helps protect them from stomach acids that cause breakdown. For useful description of the see, Triticeae glutens Immunochemistry of gluten Deamidated gliadin is produced by acid or enzymatic treatment of gluten. The enzyme tissue transglutaminase converts some of the abundant glutamines to glutamic acid and this is done because gliadins are soluble in alcohol and cannot be mixed with other foods without changing the foods qualities. Deamidated gliadin is soluble in water, the cellular immunity to deamidated α-/β-gliadin is much greater than α/β-gliadin and can result in symptomatic gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Celiac disease is a chronic, immune-mediated intestinal disorder, in which the body becomes intolerant to gliadin, individuals with celiac disease exhibit a lifelong intolerance of wheat, barley and rye – all of which contain gliadins. Gliadin proteins have the ability to provoke an autoimmune enteropathy caused by an immune response in genetically susceptible individuals
Gliadin
–
Tissue transglutaminase
23.
Wheat
–
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century
Wheat
–
Wheat
Wheat
–
Spikelets of a hulled wheat,
einkorn
Wheat
–
Green wheat a month before harvest
Wheat
–
Wheat harvest on the
Palouse,
Idaho, United States
24.
Gluten
–
Gluten is a composite of storage proteins termed prolamins and glutelins found in wheat and related grains, including barley, rye, oat, and all their species and hybrids. Gluten is appreciated for its viscoelastic properties and it gives elasticity to dough, helping it rise and keep its shape and often gives the final product a chewy texture. Gluten is conjoined with starch in the endosperm of various grassrelated grains, Wheat prolamins are called gliadins, barley prolamins are hordeins, rye prolamins are secalins and oats prolamins are avenins, which are collectively named gluten. Oat avenin toxicity in people with gluten-related disorders depends on the oat cultivar consumed because the immunoreactivities of toxic prolamins are different among oat varieties, also, many oat products are cross-contaminated with other gluten-containing cereals. The fruit of most flowering plants have endosperms with stored protein to nourish embryonic plants during germination, true gluten is limited to the grains listed above. The stored proteins of maize and rice are sometimes called glutens, gluten is a protein complex that accounts for 75 to 85% of the total protein in bread wheat. Gluten is prepared from flour by kneading the flour under water, agglomerating the gluten into a network, a dough. Starch granules disperse in water, and the dispersed starch is sedimented and dried. If a saline solution is used instead of water, a protein is obtained. Where starch is the product, cold water is the favored solvent because the impurities depart from the gluten. In home or restaurant cooking, a ball of flour dough is kneaded under water until the starch disperses out. In industrial production, a slurry of wheat flour is kneaded vigorously by machinery until the gluten agglomerates into a mass and this mass is collected by centrifugation, then transported through several stages integrated in a continuous process. The process yields a powder with a 7% moisture content. In the final step, the gluten is sifted and milled to produce a uniform product. Gluten forms when glutenin molecules cross-link to form a network attached to gliadin. If this dough is leavened with yeast, fermentation produces carbon dioxide bubbles, baking coagulates the gluten, which, along with starch, stabilizes the shape of the final product. Gluten content has been implicated as a factor in the staling of bread, the development of gluten affects the texture of the baked goods. More refining leads to products such as pizza and bagels
Gluten
–
Wheat, a prime source of gluten
Gluten
–
Sources of gluten: Clockwise from top: high-gluten
wheat flour, European
spelt,
barley, rolled
rye flakes
Gluten
–
Gluten is often used in imitation meats (such as this mock "duck") to provide supplemental protein and variety in vegetarian diets.
Gluten
–
History
25.
Polyploidy
–
Polyploid cells and organisms are those containing more than two paired sets of chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes—one set inherited from each parent, however, polyploidy is found in some organisms and is especially common in plants. In addition, polyploidy occurs in tissues of animals that are otherwise diploid. Species whose cells do not have nuclei, that is, Prokaryotes, may be polyploid organisms, hence ploidy is defined with respect to a cell. Most eukaryotes have diploid somatic cells, but produce haploid gametes by meiosis, a monoploid has only one set of chromosomes, and the term is usually only applied to cells or organisms that are normally diploid. Male bees and other Hymenoptera, for example, are monoploid, unlike animals, plants and multicellular algae have life cycles with two alternating multicellular generations. The gametophyte generation is haploid, and produces gametes by mitosis, polyploidy refers to a numerical change in a whole set of chromosomes. Organisms in which a particular chromosome, or chromosome segment, is under- or overrepresented are said to be aneuploid, polyploidy may occur due to abnormal cell division, either during mitosis, or commonly during metaphase I in meiosis. Polyploidy occurs in highly differentiated human tissues in the liver, heart muscle and it occurs in the somatic cells of some animals, such as goldfish, salmon, and salamanders, but is especially common among ferns and flowering plants, including both wild and cultivated species. Many agriculturally important plants of the genus Brassica are also tetraploids, oryzalin will also double the existing chromosome content. Polyploid types are labeled according to the number of sets in the nucleus. The letter x is used to represent the number of chromosomes in a single set, examples in animals are more common in non-vertebrates such as flatworms, leeches, and brine shrimp. Within vertebrates, examples of stable polyploidy include the salmonids and many cyprinids, some fish have as many as 400 chromosomes. Polyploidy also occurs commonly in amphibians, for example the biomedically-important Xenopus genus contains many different species with as many as 12 sets of chromosomes, polyploid lizards are also quite common, but are sterile and must reproduce by parthenogenesis. While mammalian liver cells are polyploid, rare instances of polyploid mammals are known, an octodontid rodent of Argentinas harsh desert regions, known as the plains viscacha rat has been reported as an exception to this rule. However, careful analysis using chromosome paints shows that there are two copies of each chromosome in T. barrerae, not the four expected if it were truly a tetraploid. This rodent is not a rat, but kin to guinea pigs and its new diploid number is 102 and so its cells are roughly twice normal size. Its closest living relation is Octomys mimax, the Andean Viscacha-Rat of the same family and it was therefore surmised that an Octomys-like ancestor produced tetraploid offspring that were, by virtue of their doubled chromosomes, reproductively isolated from their parents
Polyploidy
–
Organ-specific patterns of endopolyploidy (from 2 x to 64 x) in the giant ant
Dinoponera australis
Polyploidy
–
This image shows haploid (single), diploid (double), triploid (triple), and tetraploid (quadruple) sets of chromosomes. Triploid and tetraploid chromosomes are examples of polyploidy.
Polyploidy
–
Schematic phylogeny of the fungi. Red circles indicate polyploidy, blue squares indicate hybridization. From Albertin and Marullo, 2012
Polyploidy
–
This
phylogenetic tree shows the relationship between the best-documented instances of
paleopolyploidy in eukaryotes.
26.
Fertile Crescent
–
The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia, the Nile Valley and Nile Delta. Having originated in the study of ancient history, the concept developed and today retains meanings in international geopolitics. In current usage, all definitions of the Fertile Crescent include Mesopotamia, the land in and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the Levant, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The region saw the development of some of the earliest human civilizations, technological advances made in the region include the development of writing, glass, the wheel, agriculture, and the use of irrigation. It is a region consisting chiefly of mountains in the north, the end of the western wing is Palestine, Assyria makes up a large part of the center, while the end of the eastern wing is Babylonia. This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the Fertile Crescent and this desert-bay is a limestone plateau of some height—too high indeed to be watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, which have cut cañons obliquely across it. Hence we are obliged to coin a term and call it the Fertile Crescent, water sources include the Jordan River. The inner boundary is delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south, around the outer boundary are the Anatolian highlands to the north and the Sahara Desert to the west. As crucial as rivers and marshlands were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, the area is important as the bridge between Africa and Eurasia. Coupled with the Saharan pump theory, this Middle Eastern land-bridge is of importance to the modern distribution of Old World flora and fauna. The Fertile Crescent had many diverse climates, and major climatic changes encouraged the evolution of many r type annual plants, the regions dramatic variety of elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. The Fertile Crescent has a record of past human activity. The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic farming settlements and this region, alongside Mesopotamia, also saw the emergence of early complex societies during the succeeding Bronze Age. There is also evidence from the region for writing and the formation of hierarchical statelevel societies. This has earned the region the nickname The cradle of civilization and it is in this region where the first libraries appeared, some 5,000 years ago. The oldest known library was found in northern Syria, in the ruins of Ebla— a major commercial center that was destroyed around 1650 BCE, both the Tigris and Euphrates start in the Taurus Mountains of what is today Turkey. Farmers in southern Mesopotamia had to protect their fields from flooding each year, to protect against flooding, they made levees. Since the Bronze Age, the regions natural fertility has been extended by irrigation works
Fertile Crescent
–
The Fertile Crescent at maximum defined extent, with the names of ancient civilizations found there.
27.
Near East
–
The Near East is a geographical term that roughly encompasses Western Asia. Despite having varying definitions within different academic circles, the term was applied to the maximum extent of the Ottoman Empire. The term has fallen into disuse in English and has replaced by the terms Middle East. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines the region similarly, but also includes Afghanistan while excluding the countries of North Africa and the Palestinian territories. Up until 1912 the Ottomans retained a band of territory including Albania, Macedonia and Southern Thrace, the Ottoman Empire, believed to be about to collapse, was portrayed in the press as the sick man of Europe. The Balkan states, with the exception of Bosnia and Albania, were primarily Christian. Starting in 1894 the Ottomans struck at the Armenians on the grounds that they were a non-Muslim people. The Hamidian Massacres aroused the indignation of the entire Christian world, in the United States the now aging Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, leaped into the war of words and joined the Red Cross. Relations of minorities within the Ottoman Empire and the disposition of former Ottoman lands became known as the Eastern Question and it now became relevant to define the east of the eastern question. In about the middle of the 19th century Near East came into use to describe part of the east closest to Europe. The term Far East appeared contemporaneously meaning Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, near East applied to what had been mainly known as the Levant, which was in the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Porte, or government. Those who used the term had little choice about its meaning and they could not set foot on most of the shores of the southern and central Mediterranean from the Gulf of Sidra to Albania without permits from the Ottoman Empire. Some regions beyond the Ottoman Porte were included, one was North Africa west of Egypt. It was occupied by piratical kingdoms of the Barbary Coast, de facto independent since the 18th century, formerly part of the empire at its apogee. Iran was included because it could not easily be reached except through the Ottoman Empire or neighboring Russia, in the 1890s the term tended to focus on the conflicts in the Balkan states and Armenia. The demise of the man of Europe left considerable confusion as to what was to be meant by Near East. It is now used only in historical contexts, to describe the countries of Western Asia from the Mediterranean to Iran. There is, in short, no universally understood fixed inventory of nations and they appear together in the journals of the mid-19th century
Near East
–
The Near East as defined as the
Ottoman Empire at the beginning of "
the eastern question ".
Near East
–
Inhabitants of the Near East, late 19th century
Near East
–
Ottoman Porte, 1767, gateway to trade with the Levant. Painting by
Antoine de Favray.
Near East
–
British troops, Crimea, 1855.
28.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
29.
Rye
–
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the tribe and is closely related to barley. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, crisp bread, some whiskeys, some vodkas and it can also be eaten whole, either as boiled rye berries or by being rolled, similar to rolled oats. Rye is a grain and should not be confused with ryegrass, which is used for lawns, pasture. Rye is one of a number of species grow wild in central and eastern Turkey. It is possible that rye traveled west from Turkey as an admixture in wheat. Since the Middle Ages people have cultivated rye widely in Central and it serves as the main bread cereal in most areas east of the French-German border and north of Hungary. In Southern Europe, it was cultivated on marginal lands, claims of much earlier cultivation of rye, at the Epipalaeolithic site of Tell Abu Hureyra in the Euphrates valley of northern Syria remain controversial. Critics point to inconsistencies in the dates, and identifications based solely on grain. Winter rye is any breed of rye planted in the fall to provide cover for the winter. It grows during warmer days of the winter when sunlight temporarily warms the plant above freezing and it is sometimes used in winter gardens and is a common nurse crop. Rye is grown primarily in Eastern, Central and Northern Europe, the main rye belt stretches from northern Germany through Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia into central and northern Russia. Rye is also grown in North America, in South America, in Oceania, in Turkey, in Kazakhstan, production levels of rye have fallen in most of the producing nations, as of 2012. For instance, production of rye in Russia fell from 13.9 million metric tons in 1992 to 2.1 t in 2012, most rye is consumed locally or exported only to neighboring countries, rather than being shipped worldwide. Rye is highly susceptible to the ergot fungus, consumption of ergot-infected rye by humans and animals results in a serious medical condition known as ergotism. Ergotism can cause physical and mental harm, including convulsions, miscarriage, necrosis of digits, hallucinations. Historically, damp northern countries that have depended on rye as a staple crop were subject to epidemics of this condition. There have been occurrence of ergotism with periods where there were incidents of people persecuted for being witches
Rye
–
Rye
Rye
–
Rye grains.
Rye
–
For other uses, see
Rye (disambiguation).
Rye
–
Wild rye
30.
Secondary crop
–
Vavilovian mimicry is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed comes to share one or more characteristics with a domesticated plant through generations of artificial selection. It is named after Nikolai Vavilov, a prominent Russian plant geneticist who identified the centres of origin of cultivated plants, selection against the weed may occur by killing a young or adult weed, separating its seeds from those of the crop, or both. This has been done manually since Neolithic times, and in recent years by agricultural machinery. Vavilovian mimicry is an illustration of unintentional selection by humans. Although the human selective agents might be conscious of their impact on the local weed gene pool, such effects go against the goals of those growing crops. Weeders do not want to select weeds that are similar to the cultivated plant, yet the only other option is to let the weeds grow and compete with crops for sunlight. Similar situations include antibiotic resistance and, of nature to crop mimicry. This can be contrasted with forms of artificial selection that do tend toward a favorable outcome. Having acquired many desirable qualities by being subjected to selective pressures. Vavilov called these weeds-become-crops secondary crops, Vavilovian mimicry can be classified as reproductive, aggressive and, in the case of secondary crops, mutualistic. It is a form of disjunct mimicry with the model agreeable to the dupe, in disjunct mimicry complexes, three different species are involved as model, mimic and dupe—the weed, mimicking a protected crop model, with humans as signal receivers. In fact, the only protection relevant here is its usefulness to humans. Secondly, the weed is not eaten, but simply killed, the only motivation for killing the weed is its effect on crop yields. Farmers would prefer to have no weeds at all, but a predator would die if it had no prey to eat, finally, there is no known equivalent of Vavilovian mimicry in ecosystems unaltered by humans. Delbert Wiens has argued that secondary crops cannot be classified as mimics, because they result from artificial as opposed to natural selection, on this first point, Georges Pasteur points out that indirect artificial selection is involuntary and thus no different from natural selection. One case of Vavilovian mimicry is the gold-of-pleasure or false flax, which much like the flax plant Linum usitatissimum. The gold-of-pleasure is a descendant of Camelina gabrata, a wild species, weeding of the adult plant is impractical, instead they are separated based on properties of the seed. This is done by a machine, which in this case acts as an inanimate signal receiver
Secondary crop
–
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov.
Secondary crop
–
The gold-of-pleasure or false flax on the left (denoted by number 1) resembles flax and its seeds are practically inseparable from the flax seed.
Secondary crop
–
Rye is a secondary crop, originally being a mimetic weed of
wheat.
Secondary crop
–
Though now an important crop, oats were once just another weed.
Russia
Canada
Poland
Australia
Finland
United States
. PMID 27446825. doi:10.1155/2016/1870305.
