1.
Gynoecium
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Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of pistils in a flower and is surrounded by the pollen-producing reproductive organs. The term gynoecium is also used by botanists to refer to a cluster of archegonia and any associated modified leaves or stems present on a shoot in mosses. The corresponding terms for the parts of those plants are clusters of antheridia within the androecium. Flowers that bear a gynoecium but no stamens are called carpellate, flowers lacking a gynoecium are called staminate. The gynoecium is often referred to as female because it gives rise to female gametophytes, however, strictly speaking sporophytes do not have a sex, only gametophytes do. Gynoecium development and arrangement is important in research and identification of angiosperms. The gynoecium may consist of one or more separate pistils, a pistil typically consists of an expanded basal portion called the ovary, an elongated section called a style and an apical structure that receives pollen called a stigma. The ovary, is the basal portion which contains placentas. The placentas and/or ovule may be born on the gynoecial appendages or less frequently on the floral apex, the chamber in which the ovules develop is called a locule. The style, is a pillar-like stalk through which pollen tubes grow to reach the ovary, some flowers such as Tulipa do not have a distinct style, and the stigma sits directly on the ovary. The style is a tube in some plants such as lilies. The stigma, is found at the tip of the style. It is commonly sticky or feathery to capture pollen, the word pistil comes from Latin pistillum meaning pestle. A sterile pistil in a flower is referred to as a pistillode. The pistils of a flower are considered to be composed of carpels, a carpel is a theoretical construct interpreted as modified leaves bearing structures called ovules, inside which the egg cells ultimately form. A pistil may consist of one carpel, with its ovary, style and stigma, or several carpels may be joined together with a single ovary, the gynoecium may consist of one or more uni-carpellate pistils, or of one multi-carpellate pistil. The number of carpels is described by such as tricarpellate
2.
Tulip
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The tulip is a Eurasian and North African genus of perennial, bulbous plants in the lily family. It is a herb with showy flowers, of which around 75 wild species are currently accepted. The tulips centre of diversity is in the Pamir, Hindu Kush and it is a common element of steppe and winter-rain Mediterranean vegetation. A number of species and many cultivars are grown in gardens or as potted plants. Tulips are spring-blooming perennials that grow from bulbs, depending on the species, tulip plants can be between 4 inches and 28 inches high. The tulips large flowers usually bloom on scapes with leaves in a rosette at ground level, larger species tend to have multiple leaves. Plants typically have two to six leaves, some species up to 12, the tulips leaf is strap-shaped, with a waxy coating, and the leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, these fleshy blades are often bluish green in color. Most tulips produce only one flower per stem, but a few species bear multiple flowers on their scapes, the generally cup or star-shaped tulip flower has three petals and three sepals, which are often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. These six tepals are often marked on the surface near the bases with darker colorings. Tulip flowers come in a variety of colors, except pure blue. The flowers have six distinct, basifixed stamens with filaments shorter than the tepals, each stigma has three distinct lobes, and the ovaries are superior, with three chambers. The tulips seed is a capsule with a covering and an ellipsoid to globe shape. Each capsule contains numerous flat, disc-shaped seeds in two rows per chamber and these light to dark brown seeds have very thin seed coats and endosperm that does not normally fill the entire seed. Tulipanin is a found in tulips. It is the 3-rutinoside of delphinidin, the chemical compounds named tuliposides and tulipalins can also be found in tulips and are responsible for allergies. Tulipalin A, or α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone, is an allergen, generated by hydrolysis of the glucoside tuliposide A. It induces a dermatitis that is mostly occupational and affects tulip bulb sorters and florists who cut the stems, tulipanin A and B are toxic to horses, cats and dogs. The genus Tulipa was traditionally divided into two sections, Eriostemones and Tulipa, and comprises ca.76 species
3.
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
4.
Ovule
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In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts, The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus, and female gametophyte in its center, the female gametophyte—specifically termed a megagametophyte—is also called the embryo sac in angiosperms. The megagametophyte produces an egg cell for the purpose of fertilization, after fertilization, the ovule develops into a seed. In flowering plants, the ovule is located inside the portion of the called the gynoecium. The ovary of the gynoecium produces one or more ovules and ultimately becomes the fruit wall, ovules are attached to the placenta in the ovary through a stalk-like structure known as a funiculus. Different patterns of attachment, or placentation, can be found among plant species. Axile placentation, The ovary is divided into segments, with placentas in separate locules. Ventral sutures of carpels meet at the centre of the ovary, Placentae are along fused margins of carpels. Basal placentation, The placenta is at the base of the ovary on a protrusion of the thalamus, simple or compound carpel, unilocular ovary. Free-central placentation, Derived from axile as partitions are absorbed, leaving ovules at the central axis, there is only one elongated placenta on one side of the ovary, as ovules are attached at the fusion line of the carpels margins. Parietal placentation, Placentae on inner wall within a non-sectioned ovary. Two or more carpels, unilocular ovary, in gymnosperms such as conifers, ovules are borne on the surface of an ovuliferous scale, usually within an ovulate cone. In some extinct plants, megasporangia and perhaps ovules were borne on the surface of leaves, in other extinct taxa, a cupule surrounds the ovule. The ovule appears to be a megasporangium with integuments surrounding it, ovules are initially composed of diploid maternal tissue, which includes a megasporocyte. Megaspores remain inside the ovule and divide by mitosis to produce the female gametophyte or megagametophyte. The remnants of the megasporangium tissue surround the megagametophyte, megagametophytes produce archegonia, which produce egg cells. After fertilization, the contains a diploid zygote and then, after cell division begins. In flowering plants, a sperm nucleus fuses with other nuclei in the megagametophyte forming a typically polyploid endosperm tissue
5.
Petal
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Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators, together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals, the calyx and the corolla together make up the perianth. When the petals and sepals of a flower are difficult to distinguish, examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Aloe and Tulipa. Conversely, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished sepals and petals, when the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as petaloid, as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, a name is lilioid monocots. Although petals are usually the most conspicuous parts of animal-pollinated flowers, wind-pollinated species, such as the grasses, the role of the corolla in plant evolution has been studied extensively since Charles Darwin postulated a theory of the origin of elongated corollae and corolla tubes. If the petals are free from one another in the corolla, the corolla in some plants forms a tube. Petals can differ dramatically in different species, the number of petals in a flower may hold clues to a plants classification. For example, flowers on eudicots most frequently have four or five petals while flowers on monocots have three or six petals, although there are exceptions to this rule. The petal whorl or corolla may be radially or bilaterally symmetrical. If all of the petals are essentially identical in size and shape, many flowers are symmetrical in only one plane and are termed irregular or zygomorphic. In irregular flowers, other parts may be modified from the regular form. Examples of zygomorphic flowers may be seen in orchids and members of the pea family, in many plants of the aster family such as the sunflower, Helianthus annuus, the circumference of the flower head is composed of ray florets. Each ray floret is anatomically an individual flower with a large petal. Florets in the centre of the disc typically have no or very reduced petals, in some plants such as Narcissus the lower part of the petals or tepals are fused to form a floral cup above the ovary, and from which the petals proper extend. Petal often consists of two parts, the upper, broad part, similar to leaf blade, called the limb, claws are developed in petals of some flowers of the family Brassicaceae, such as Erysimum cheiri. The inception and further development of shows a great variety of patterns
6.
Sepal
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A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms. Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, the term sepalum was coined by Noël Martin Joseph de Necker in 1790, and derived from the Greek σκεπη, a covering. Collectively the sepals are called the calyx, the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower, the word calyx was adopted from the Latin calyx, not to be confused with calix, a cup or goblet. Calyx derived from the Greek κάλυξ, a bud, a calyx, a husk or wrapping, while derived from the Greek κυλιξ, a cup or goblet. After flowering, most plants have no use for the calyx which withers or becomes vestigial. Some plants retain a thorny calyx, either dried or live, examples include species of Acaena, some of the Solanaceae, and the water caltrop, Trapa natans. In some species the calyx not only persists after flowering, but instead of withering and this is an effective protection against some kinds of birds and insects, for example in Hibiscus trionum and the Cape gooseberry. Morphologically, both sepals and petals are modified leaves, the calyx and the corolla are the outer sterile whorls of the flower, which together form what is known as the perianth. The term tepal is usually applied when the parts of the perianth are difficult to distinguish, e. g. the petals and sepals share the same color, or the petals are absent and the sepals are colorful. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as petaloid, as in petaloid monocots, since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots. Examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Aloe, in contrast, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished sepals and petals. The number of sepals in a flower is its merosity, flower merosity is indicative of a plants classification. The merosity of a flower is typically four or five. The merosity of a monocot or palaeodicot flower is three, or a multiple of three, the development and form of the sepals vary considerably among flowering plants. They may be free or fused together, often, the sepals are much reduced, appearing somewhat awn-like, or as scales, teeth, or ridges. Most often such structures protrude until the fruit is mature and falls off, examples of flowers with much reduced perianths are found among the grasses. In some flowers, the sepals are fused towards the base, in other flowers a hypanthium includes the bases of sepals, petals, and the attachment points of the stamens
7.
Stigma (botany)
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The stigma is the receptive tip of a carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower. The stigma, together with the style and ovary comprises the pistil, the stigma forms the distal portion of the style or stylodia. The stigma is composed of stigmatic papillae, the cells which are receptive to pollen and these may be restricted to the apex of the style or, especially in wind pollinated species, cover a wide surface. The stigma receives pollen and it is on the stigma that the pollen grain germinates, often sticky, the stigma is adapted in various ways to catch and trap pollen with various hairs, flaps, or sculpturings. The pollen may be captured from the air, from visiting insects or other animals, Stigma can vary from long and slender to globe shaped to feathery. Pollen is typically highly desiccated when it leaves an anther, Stigma have been shown to assist in the rehydration of pollen and in promoting germination of the pollen tube. Stigma also ensure proper adhesion of the species of pollen. The stigma is often split into lobes, e. g. trifid, the shape of the stigma may vary considerably, The style is a narrow upward extension of the ovary, connecting it to the stigmatic papillae. It may be absent in plants in the case the stigma is referred to as sessile. Styles are generally tube-like — either long or short, the style can be open with a central canal which may be filled with mucilage. Alternatively the style may be closed and this forms a nutrient rich tract for pollen tube growth. Where there are more than one carpels to the pistil, each may have a separate style-like stylodium, in Irises and others in the Iridaceae family, the style divides into three petal-like, style branches, almost to the base of the style and is called tribrachiate. These are flaps of tissue, running from the tube above the sepal. The stigma is a rim or edge on the underside of the branch, style branches also appear on Dietes, Pardanthopsis and most species of Moraea. In Crocuses, there are three divided style branches, creating a tube, hesperantha has a spreading style branch. Alternatively the style may be lobed rather than branched, gladiolus has a bi-lobed style branch. Freesia, Lapeirousia, Romulea, Savannosiphon and Watsonia have bifuracated and recurved style branches, may be terminal, subapical, lateral, gynobasic, or subgynobasic. Terminal style position refers to attachment at the apex of the ovary and is the commonest pattern, in the subapical pattern the style arises to the side slightly below the apex
8.
Pollen
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology. Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this takes place from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower. Pollen itself is not the male gamete, each pollen grain contains vegetative cells and a generative cell. In flowering plants the vegetative tube cell produces the pollen tube, pollen is produced in the microsporangia in the male cone of a conifer or other gymnosperm or in the anthers of an angiosperm flower. Pollen grains come in a variety of shapes, sizes. Pollen grains of pines, firs, and spruces are winged, the smallest pollen grain, that of the forget-me-not, is around 6 µm in diameter. Wind-borne pollen grains can be as large as about 90–100 µm, in angiosperms, during flower development the anther is composed of a mass of cells that appear undifferentiated, except for a partially differentiated dermis. As the flower develops, four groups of cells form within the anther. The fertile sporogenous cells are surrounded by layers of cells that grow into the wall of the pollen sac. Some of the cells grow into nutritive cells that supply nutrition for the microspores that form by meiotic division from the sporogenous cells, in a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell, after meiotic division. After the formation of the four microspores, which are contained by callose walls, the exine is what is preserved in the fossil record. Two basic types of microsporogenesis are recognised, simultaneous and successive, in simultaneous microsporogenesis meiotic steps I and II are completed prior to cytokinesis, whereas in successive microsporogenesis cytokinesis follows. While there may be a continuum with intermediate forms, the type of microsporogenesis has systematic significance, the predominant form amongst the monocots is successive, but there are important exceptions. During microgametogenesis, the unicellular microspores undergo mitosis and develop into mature microgametophytes containing the gametes, in some flowering plants, germination of the pollen grain may begin even before it leaves the microsporangium, with the generative cell forming the two sperm cells. Except in the case of submerged aquatic plants, the mature pollen grain has a double wall
9.
Fruit
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In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
10.
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
11.
Locule
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A locule or loculus is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism. In angiosperms, the term usually refers to a chamber within an ovary of the flower. Depending on the number of locules in the ovary, fruits can be classified as uni-locular, bi-locular, tri-locular or multi-locular, the number of locules present in a gynoecium may be equal to or less than the number of carpels. The locules contain the ovules or seeds, the term may also refer to chambers within anthers containing pollen. In Ascomycete fungi, locules are chambers within the hymenium in which the perithecia develop
12.
Septum
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See Ceuta#History for the city in Roman Mauretania. In biology, a septum is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones, because the dense collagen fibres of a septum usually extend out into the softer adjacent tissues, microscopic fibrous septa are less clearly defined than the macroscopic types of septa listed above. In rare instances, a septum is a cross-wall, thus it divides a structure into smaller parts. The Septum is the boundary formed between dividing cells in the course of cell division, a partition dividing filamentous hyphae into discrete cells in fungi. A partition that separates the locules of a fruit, anther, a septum is one of the radial calcareous plates in the corallites of a coral. One of the partitions dividing the shell of a mollusk, or of a rhizopod. One of the partitions dividing the body cavity of an annelid. Septum, walls between each chamber, or siphuncle, in shells of nautiloids, ammonites, and belemnites, a rubber septum is an engineered membrane that permits transfer of a substance without contact with air, usually using a syringe with needle
13.
Pollen tube
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A pollen tube is part of the male gametophyte of seed plants. It acts as a conduit to transport the male cells from the pollen grain, either from the stigma to the ovules at the base of the pistil. In maize, this cell can grow longer than 12 inches to traverse the length of the pistil. Pollen tubes were first discovered by Giovanni Battista Amici, angiosperm reproduction is a complex process that includes several steps that may vary among species. Each step is a vast procedure in its own right, Pollen is produced by the stamen, the male reproductive organ of the flower. Each pollen grain contains a cell, and a generative cell that divides to form two sperm cells. The pollen is delivered by the opening of anthers for subsequent pollination, that is, for the transfer of pollen grains to the pistil, pollination is usually carried out by wind, water or insects. The ovaries hold the ovules that produce the female gamete, the egg cell, once a pollen grain settles on a compatible pistil, it may germinate in response to a sugary fluid secreted by the mature stigma of certain plants. Lipids at the surface of the stigma may also stimulate pollen tube growth for compatible pollen, plants that are self-sterile often inhibit the pollen grains from their own flowers from growing pollen tubes. The presence of multiple grains of pollen has been observed to stimulate quicker pollen tube growth in some plants, the vegetative cell then produces the pollen tube, a tubular protrusion from the pollen grain, which carries the sperm cells within its cytoplasm. The sperm cells are the gametes that will join with the egg cell. The germinated pollen tube must then drill its way through the nutrient-rich style, once the pollen tube successfully attains an ovule, it delivers the two sperm cells with a burst. One of them fertilizes the egg cell to form an embryo, the other one fuses with both polar nuclei of the central cell to form the endosperm, which serves as the embryos food supply. Finally, the ovary will develop into a fruit and the ovules develop into seeds. Pollen tubes are an excellent model for the understanding of plant cell behavior and they are easily cultivated in vitro and have a very dynamic cytoskeleton that polymerizes at very high rates, providing the pollen tube with interesting mechanical properties. The pollen tube has a kind of growth, it extends exclusively at its apex. Extending the cell wall only at the tip minimizes friction between the tube and the invaded tissue and this tip growth is performed in a pulsating manner rather than in a steady fashion. Remarkably, the pollen tube’s journey through the style often results in depth-to-diameter ratios above 100,1, the internal machinery and the external interactions that govern the dynamics of pollen tube growth are far from being fully understood
14.
Dehiscence (botany)
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Dehiscence is the splitting at maturity along a built-in line of weakness in a plant structure in order to release its contents, and is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part, structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, dehiscence may or may not involve the loss of a structure through the process of abscission. The lost structures are said to be caducous, manipulation of dehiscence can improve crop yield since a trait that causes seed dispersal is a disadvantage for farmers whose goal is to collect the seed. Many of the agronomically important plants have been bred for reduced shattering, explosive dehiscence is a ballistic form of dispersal that flings seeds or spores far from the parent plant. This rapid plant movement can achieve limited dispersal without the assistance of animals, a notable example is the sandbox tree, which can fling seeds 100 meters and has been called the Dynamite tree due to the loud sound of its explosive dehiscence. Another example is Impatiens, whose explosive dehiscence is triggered by being touched, explosive dehiscence of sporangia is a characteristic of Sphagnum. Septicidal and loculicidal dehiscence may not be distinct, in some cases both the septa and the walls of the locules split. Dehiscence occurs through breakage of parts of the enclosing structure, the mechanisms can be classified in various ways. Dehiscence through a hole is referred to as poricidal dehiscence. The pore may have a cover that is referred to as an operculum or it may not, poricidal dehiscence occurs in many unrelated organisms, in fruit, causing the release of seeds, and also in the sporangia of many organisms. Poricidal anthers of flowers are associated with buzz pollination by insects. Circumscissile dehiscence involves a horizontal opening that causes a lid to separate completely and this type of dehiscence occurs in some fruit and anthers and also in some flower buds. Anther dehiscence is the function of the anther that causes the release of pollen grains. This process is coordinated precisely with pollen differentiation, floral development, the anther wall breaks at a specific site. Usually this site is observed as an indentation between the locules of each theca and runs the length of the anther, but in species with poricidal anther dehiscence it is instead a small pore. If the pollen is released from the anther through a split on the side, this is extrorse dehiscence, and if the pollen is released from the inner side. If the pollen is released through a split that is positioned to the side, towards other anthers, rather than towards the inside or outside of the flower, the stomium is the region of the anther where dehiscence occurs
15.
Melon
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A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet edible, fleshy fruit. The word melon can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit, botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a pepo. The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων, meaning melon, itself a compound of μῆλον, apple and πέπων, many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of muskmelons. Melons originated in Africa and southwest Asia, but they began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Roman Empire. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in both the Old and New Worlds, early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these, winter melon is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The mature winter melon is a vegetable that is widely used in Asia and India. The immature melons are used as a culinary fruit, egusi is a wild melon, similar in appearance to the watermelon. The flesh is inedible, but the seeds are a food source in Africa. Other species that have the same role, and that are also called egusi include Cucumeropsis mannii. Watermelon originated in Africa, where evidence indicates that it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years and it is a popular summer fruit in all parts of the world. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons, all but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L. Horned melon, a traditional food plant in Africa with distinctive spikes. Now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well, muskmelon C. melo cantalupensis, with skin that is rough and warty, not netted. The European cantaloupe, with lightly ribbed, pale skin, was domesticated in the 18th century, in Cantalupo in Sabina, Italy. Varieties include the French Charentais and the Burpee Seeds hybrid Netted Gem, the Yubari King is a highly prized Japanese cantaloupe cultivar. The Persian melon resemble a large cantaloupe with a darker green rind, C. melo inodorus, casabas, honeydew, and Asian melons Argos, a large, oblong, with orange wrinkled skin, orange flesh, strong aroma. A characteristic is its pointed ends, growing in some areas of Greece, from which it was named. Canary melon, a large, bright-yellow melon with a green to white inner flesh
16.
Peganum harmala
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Peganum harmala, commonly called esfand, wild rue, Syrian rue, African rue, harmel, or aspand, is a plant of the family Nitrariaceae. Its common English-language name came about because of a resemblance to rue, the plants seeds are especially noteworthy because they have seen continual use for thousands of years in the rites of many cultures. The plant has remained a tool in both folk medicine and spiritual practices for so long that some historians believe the plant may be the ancient soma. It is a plant which can grow to about 0.8 m tall. The roots of the plant can reach a depth of up to 6.1 m and it blossoms between June and August in the Northern Hemisphere. The flowers are white and are about 2. 5–3.8 cm in diameter, the round seed capsules measure about 1–1.5 cm in diameter, have three chambers and carry more than 50 seeds. Peganum harmala is of Asian Origin and grows in the Middle East and in part of South Asia mainly in India and it was first planted in the United States in 1928 in New Mexico by a farmer wanting to manufacture the dye Persian red from its seeds. Since then, it has spread invasively to Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, because it is so drought tolerant, African rue can displace the native saltbushes and grasses growing in the salt-desert shrub lands of the Western U. S. In Turkey, dried capsules from this plant are strung and hung in homes or vehicles to protect against the evil eye and it is widely used for protection against Djinn in Morocco. When they burst a fragrant smoke is released and this smoke is wafted around the head of those afflicted by or exposed to the gaze of strangers while a specific prayer is recited. This tradition is followed by members of many religions, including Christians, Muslims. In several versions of the prayer accompanying the ritual, the name of an ancient Zoroastrian Persian king and he is said to have first learned the prayer from five protective female spirits, called Yazds. In Yemen, the Jewish custom of old was to bleach wheaten flour on Passover, in order to produce a clean and white unleavened bread. The wheat was left in this state for a few days, afterwards, the wheat was taken up and sifted, to rid them of the residue of leaves. They were then ground into flour, which left a clean, Peganum harmala has been used to treat pain and to treat skin inflammations, including skin cancers. Peganum harmala has been used as an emmenagogue and abortifacient agent, the root is applied to kill lice and when burned, the seeds kill insects and inhibit the reproduction of the Tribolium castaneum beetle. It is also used as an anthelmintic, reportedly, the ancient Greeks used the powdered seeds to get rid of tapeworms and to treat recurring fevers. A red dye, Turkey red, from the seeds is used in western Asia to dye carpets
17.
Perianth
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The perianth is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx and the corolla. The term perianth is derived from the Greek περί, peri, meaning around, in the mosses and liverworts, the perianth is the sterile tubelike tissue that surrounds the female reproductive structure. When the perianth is in two whorls, it is described as biseriate, while the calyx may be green, it may also be brightly coloured, and is then described as petaloid. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as petaloid, as in petaloid monocots. Since they include Liliales, a name is lilioid monocots. The corolla and petals have a role in attracting pollinators, when the corolla consists of separate tepals the term apotepalous is used, or syntepalous if the tepals are fused to one another. The petals may be united to form a tubular corolla, if either the petals or sepals are entirely absent, the perianth can be described as being monochlamydeous. Both sepals and petals may have stomata and veins, even if vestigial, in some taxa, for instance some magnolias and water lilies the perianth is arranged in a spiral on nodes, rather than whorls. Flowers with spiral perianths tend to also be those with undifferentiated perianths, an additional structure in some plants is the corona, a ring or set of appendages of adaxial tissue arising from the corolla or the outer edge of the stamens. It is often positioned where the corolla lobes arise from the corolla tube, the pappus of Asteraceae, considered to be a modified calyx, is also called a corona if it is shaped like a crown. The dictionary definition of perianth at Wiktionary
18.
Stamen
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The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium, a stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament and an anther which contains microsporangia. Most commonly anthers are two-lobed and are attached to the filament either at the base or in the area of the anther. The sterile tissue between the lobes is called the connective, a pollen grain develops from a microspore in the microsporangium and contains the male gametophyte. The stamens in a flower are called the androecium. The androecium can consist of as few a one-half stamen as in Canna species or as many as 3,482 stamens which have been counted in Carnegiea gigantea, the androecium in various species of plants forms a great variety of patterns, some of them highly complex. It surrounds the gynoecium and is surrounded by the perianth, a few members of the family Triuridaceae, particularly Lacandonia schismatica, are exceptional in that their gynoecia surround their androecia. Stamen is the Latin word meaning thread, depending on the species of plant, some or all of the stamens in a flower may be attached to the petals or to the floral axis. They also may be free-standing or fused to one another in different ways, including fusion of some. The filaments may be fused and the free, or the filaments free. Rather than there being two locules, one locule of a stamen may fail to develop, or alternatively the two locules may merge late in development to give a single locule, a typical anther contains four microsporangia. The microsporangia form sacs or pockets in the anther, the two separate locules on each side of an anther may fuse into a single locule. Each microsporangium is lined with a tissue layer called the tapetum. These undergo meiosis to form haploid spores, the spores may remain attached to each other in a tetrad or separate after meiosis. Each microspore then divides mitotically to form an immature microgametophyte called a pollen grain, the pollen is eventually released when the anther forms openings. These may consist of longitudinal slits, pores, as in the family, or by valves. More commonly, mature pollen grains separate and are dispensed by wind or water, pollinating insects, pollen of angiosperms must be transported to the stigma, the receptive surface of the carpel, of a compatible flower, for successful pollination to occur. After arriving, the pollen grain typically completes its development and it may grow a pollen tube and undergoing mitosis to produce two sperm nuclei
19.
Berry (botany)
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In botanical terminology, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants and bananas, the berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible pericarp. Berries may be formed one or more carpels from the same flower. The seeds are embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary. Many berries are edible, but others, such as the fruits of the potato, some berries, such as the white and red mulberry, are poisonous when unripe, but are edible in their ripe form. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate, in everyday English, berry is a term for any small edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, round, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, in botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and fleshy pulp produced from the ovary of a single flower. The ovary can be inferior or superior and it is indehiscent, i. e. it does not have a special line of weakness along which it splits to release the seeds when ripe. The pericarp is divided into three layers, the outer layer is called the exocarp or epicarp, the middle layer, the mesocarp or sarcocarp, the inner layer, the endocarp. Botanists have not applied these terms consistently, exocarp and endocarp may be restricted to more-or-less single-layered skins, or may include tissues adjacent to them, thus on one view, the exocarp extends inwards to the layer of vascular bundles. The inconsistency in usage has been described as a source of confusion, the nature of the endocarp distinguishes a berry from a drupe, which has a hardened or stony endocarp. The two kinds of fruit intergrade, depending on the state of the endocarp, some sources have attempted to quantify the difference, e. g. requiring the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick in a berry. Examples of botanical berries include, True berries, or baccae, may also be required to have an outer skin. This distinguishes, for example, a Vaccinium or Solanum berry from an Adansonia amphisarca, which has a dry, more rigid and self-supporting skin. The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a berry with a thick rind and a juicy interior divided into segments by septae. Another specialized term is used for some Cucurbitaceae fruits, which are modified to have a hard outer rind. These are given the special name pepo, while pepos are most common in the Cucurbitaceae, the fruits of Passiflora and Carica are sometimes also considered pepos. Berries that develop from an inferior ovary are sometimes termed epigynous berries or false berries, as opposed to true berries, in epigynous berries, the berry includes tissue derived from parts of the flower besides the ovary
20.
Drupe
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In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits usually develop from a carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. Other fleshy fruits may have an enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed. The term drupaceous is applied to a fruit which has the structure and texture of a drupe, the boundary between a drupe and a berry is not always clear. Thus some sources describe the fruit of species of the genus Persea, one definition of berry requires the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick, other fruits with a stony endocarp being drupes. In marginal cases, terms such as drupaceous or drupe-like may be used, the term stone fruit can be a synonym for drupe or, more typically, it can mean just the fruit of the genus Prunus. Freestone refers to a drupe having a stone which can be removed from the flesh with ease, the flesh is not attached to the stone and does not need to be cut to free the stone. Freestone varieties of fruits are preferred for uses that require removal of the stone. Freestone plums are preferred for making homegrown prunes, and freestone sour cherries are preferred for making pies, clingstone refers to a drupe having a stone which cannot easily be removed from the flesh. The flesh is attached strongly to the stone and must be cut to free the stone, clingstone varieties of fruits in the genus Prunus are preferred as table fruit and for jams, because the flesh of clingstone fruits tends to be more tender and juicy throughout. Tryma is a term for such nut-like drupes that are difficult to categorize. Hickory nuts and walnuts in the Juglandaceae family grow within a husk, these fruits are technically drupes or drupaceous nuts. Many drupes, with their sweet, fleshy outer layer, attract the attention of animals as a food, and the plant population benefits from the resulting dispersal of its seeds. The endocarp is sometimes dropped after the part is eaten, but is often swallowed, passing through the digestive tract. This passage through the tract can reduce the thickness of the endocarp. The process is known as scarification, typical drupes include apricots, olives, peaches, plums, cherries, mangoes and amlas. The coconut is also a drupe, but the mesocarp is fibrous or dry, so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry, unlike other drupes, the coconut seed is unlikely to be dispersed by being swallowed by fauna, due to its large size. It can, however, float extremely long distances across oceans, bramble fruits are aggregates of drupelets
21.
Lythraceae
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Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs and trees. The larger genera include Cuphea, Lagerstroemia, Nesaea, Rotala and it also includes the pomegranate and the water caltrop. Lythraceae has a distribution, with most species in the tropics. The family is named after the genus, Lythrum, the loosestrifes. It now includes the pomegranate, formerly classed in a separate family Punicaceae, the family also includes the widely cultivated crape myrtle trees. Botanically, the leaves are usually in pairs, and the petals emerge from the rim of the calyx tube. Lythraceae species are most often herbs, and less often shrubs or trees, traits shared by species within the Lythraceae that distinguish them from belonging to other plant families are the petals being crumpled in the bud and the many-layered outer integument of the seed. The leaves generally have an arrangement, but sometimes are whorled or alternate. They are simple with smooth margins and pinnate venation, stipules are typically reduced, appearing as a row of minute hairs, or absent. The flowers are bisexual, radially or occasionally bilaterally symmetric, with a well-developed hypanthium, the flowers are most commonly four-merous but can be six-merous, with four to eight sepals and petals. The sepals may be distinct, partially fused to form a tube, the petals are crumpled in the bud and wrinkled at maturity, and are typically distinct and overlapping, they are occasionally absent. There are usually twice as many stamens as petals, arranged in two whorls, and the stamens are unequal in length. Occasionally, the stamens are reduced to one whorl, or are more numerous with multiple whorls, the ovary is typically superior, infrequently semi-inferior, or rarely inferior. The two to many carpels can be fused together, with two to numerous ovules in each locule, with axile placentation of the ovules. Heterostyly – the presence of two or three distinct flower morphs within a species differing in the lengths of the pistil and stamens – is common within the Lythraceae, the fruit is usually a dry, dehiscent capsule, occasionally a berry. The seeds are usually flattened and/or winged, with a many-layered outer integument, epidermal hairs that expand and become mucilaginous when wet are found in about half the genera. Lythraceae is widely distributed, but with most species tropical and some temperate and they are absent from the Sahara and most arid regions of Australia. Many species occur in aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats, edible crops include the pomegranate and the water caltrop
22.
Lagerstroemia
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It is a member of the family Lythraceae, which are also known as the loosestrife family. The genus is named after the Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerström and these flowering trees are beautifully colored and are often planted both privately and commercially as ornamentals. Crepe myrtles are chiefly known for their colorful and long-lasting flowers which occur in summer, most species of Lagerstroemia have sinewy, fluted stems and branches with a mottled appearance that arises from having bark that sheds throughout the year. The leaves are opposite and simple, with entire margins, while all species are woody in nature, they can range in height from over 30 m to under 30 cm, most, however, are small to medium multiple-trunked trees and shrubs. The leaves of species provide autumn color. Flowers are borne in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers with a crepe-like texture, colors vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Although no blue-flowered varieties exist, the trend toward the blue end of the spectrum with no orange or yellow except in stamens. The fruit is a capsule, green and succulent at first and it splits along six or seven lines, producing teeth much like those of the calyx, and releases numerous, small, winged seeds. In their respective climates, both subtropical and tropical species are common in domestic and commercial landscapes, Lagerstroemia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Endoclita malabaricus. The leaves of L. parviflora are fed on by the Antheraea paphia moth which produces the tassar silk, certain species of crepe myrtle are used in landscaping and gardening as screens, lawn specimens, shrub borders, and container plants. The common crepe myrtle from China and Korea was introduced circa 1790 to Charleston, South Carolina, in the wild, the species is most often found as a multistemmed large shrub, but 200 years of cultivation have resulted in a huge number of cultivars of widely varying characteristics. In Europe, crepe myrtle is common in the south of France, the Iberian Peninsula and this species is distinctly tree-like, with colorful deciduous bark and dark green leaves which are more resistant to fungal diseases than are those of its more popular relative. The Japanese name for tree is saru suberi which refers to the smooth. Flowers are as large as those of L. indica, but are white with only the slightest pink flush appearing in some individuals, Japanese crepe myrtle is hardier to cold than many strains of L. indica, a characteristic that makes it valuable as genetic material for hybridization. Cultivars available include Kiowa, Fantasy, and Townhouse, L. speciosa, known as queen crepe myrtle, giant crepe myrtle, or banabá, originates in subtropical and tropical India. It can be grown in any climate, but in the United States is suitable only for Florida, southernmost Texas, coastal southern California. Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database, centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government. Flora of China, Lagerstroemia species list Flora, The Gardeners Bible, ABC Publishing, Ultimo, NSW, Australia,2006 Lagerstromia
23.
Pome
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In botany, a pome is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subtribe Malinae of the family Rosaceae. The word pome entered English in the late 14th century, and it derived from the Old French word pome apple, which in turn derived from the Late Latin or Vulgar Latin word poma apple, originally the plural of Latin pomus fruit, later apple. A pome is a fruit composed of one or more carpels surrounded by accessory tissue. The accessory tissue is interpreted by some specialists as an extension of the receptacle and is referred to as fruit cortex. It is the most edible part of this fruit, the carpels of a pome are fused within the core. Although the epicarp, mesocarp, and endocarp of some other fruit types look very much like the skin, flesh, the epicarp and mesocarp of a pome may be fleshy and difficult to distinguish from one another and from the hypanthial tissue. The endocarp forms a leathery or stony case around the seed, pome-type fruit with stony rather than leathery endocarp may be called a polypyrenous drupe. The shriveled remains of the sepals, style and stamens can sometimes be seen at the end of a pome opposite the stem, the best-known example of a pome is the apple. Other examples of plants produce fruit classified as a pome are Cotoneaster, Crataegus, loquat, medlar, pear, Pyracantha, toyon, quince, rowan. Some pomes may have a texture, others are berry-like with juicy flesh
24.
Pyracantha
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Pyracantha is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to Southeast Asia, resemble and are related to Cotoneaster, the plants reach up to 6 m tall. The seven species have flowers and either red, orange. The flowers are produced during spring and early summer, the berries develop from late summer. Northeastern Spain east to Northern Iran, selected hybrids and cultivars Pyracanthas are valuable ornamental plants, grown in gardens for their decorative flowers and fruit, often very densely borne. Their dense thorny structure makes them particularly valued in situations where a barrier is required. The aesthetic characteristics of pyracanthas, in conjunction with their home security qualities, makes them an alternative to artificial fences and walls. They are also good shrubs for a garden, providing dense cover for roosting and nesting birds, summer flowers for bees. They have been made into jelly, in the UK and Ireland Pyracantha and the related genus Cotoneaster are valuable sources of nectar when often the bees have little other forage during the June Gap
25.
Orchidaceae
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The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, the Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and is more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants, the largest genera are Bulbophyllum, Epidendrum, Dendrobium and Pleurothallis. The family also includes Vanilla, Orchis, and many cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis. Moreover, since the introduction of species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids. Orchids are easily distinguished from plants, as they share some very evident, shared derived characteristics. Among these are, bilateral symmetry of the flower, many flowers, a nearly always highly modified petal, fused stamens and carpels. All orchids are perennial herbs that lack any permanent woody structure and they can grow according to two patterns, Monopodial, The stem grows from a single bud, leaves are added from the apex each year and the stem grows longer accordingly. The stem of orchids with a monopodial growth can reach several metres in length, as in Vanda, Sympodial, Sympodial orchids have a front and a back. The plant produces a series of adjacent shoots which grow to a size, bloom. Sympodial orchids grow laterally rather than vertically, following the surface of their support, the growth continues by development of new leads, with their own leaves and roots, sprouting from or next to those of the previous year, as in Cattleya. While a new lead is developing, the rhizome may start its growth again from a so-called eye, Sympodial orchids may have visible pseudobulbs joined by a rhizome, which creeps along the top or just beneath the soil. Terrestrial orchids may be rhizomatous or form corms or tubers, the root caps of terrestrial orchids are smooth and white. Some sympodial terrestrial orchids, such as Orchis and Ophrys, have two subterranean tuberous roots, one is used as a food reserve for wintry periods, and provides for the development of the other one, from which visible growth develops. In warm and constantly humid climates, many terrestrial orchids do not need pseudobulbs, epiphytic orchids, those that grow upon a support, have modified aerial roots that can sometimes be a few meters long. In the older parts of the roots, a modified spongy epidermis and it is made of dead cells and can have a silvery-grey, white or brown appearance. In some orchids, the velamen includes spongy and fibrous bodies near the passage cells, the cells of the root epidermis grow at a right angle to the axis of the root to allow them to get a firm grasp on their support
26.
Fuchsia
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Fuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. He named the new genus after the renowned German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, the fuchsias are most closely related to the northern hemisphere genus Circaea, the two lineages having diverged around 41 million years ago. Almost 110 species of Fuchsia are recognized, the vast majority are native to South America, but a few occur north through Central America to Mexico, and also several from New Zealand to Tahiti. One species, F. magellanica, extends as far as the tip of South America, occurring on Tierra del Fuego in the cool temperate zone. Most fuchsias are shrubs from 0.2 to 4 m tall, but one New Zealand species, the kōtukutuku, is unusual in the genus in being a tree, growing up to 12–15 m tall. Fuchsia leaves are opposite or in whorls of three to five, simple lanceolate, and usually have serrated margins, 1–25 cm long, and can be either deciduous or evergreen, depending on the species. The flowers are decorative, they have a pendulous teardrop shape and are displayed in profusion throughout the summer and autumn. The ovary is inferior and the fruit is a dark reddish green, deep red, or deep purple berry. The fruit of all species and cultivars is edible, with the berry of F. splendens reportedly among the best-tasting. Its flavor is reminiscent of citrus and black pepper, and it can be made into jam, the fruits of some other fuchsias are flavorless or leave a bad aftertaste. The majority of Fuchsia species are native to Central and South America, a small additional number are found on Hispaniola, in New Zealand and on Tahiti. Philip A. Munz in his A Revision of the Genus Fuchsia classified the genus into seven sections of 100 species. In New Zealand and Tahiti, section Skinnera now consists of three species as F. × colensoi has been determined to be a naturally occurring hybrid between F. excorticata and F. perscandens. Also, F. procumbens has been placed into its own section, two other new sections are Pachyrrhiza and Verrucosa, each with one species. The Plant List, a cooperative endeavor by several leading botanical institutions to maintain a working list of all plant species, lists most currently accepted Fuchsia species, the vast majority of garden hybrids have descended from a few parent species. Fuchsia decidua Fuchsia fulgens Fuchsia splendens F. splendens var. splendens F. splendens var. cordifolia Mexico to Panama, flowers on the six species in this section have flat petals and short stamens and are reflexed into the tube. Northern Argentina to Colombia and Venezuela, and Hispaniola, with sixty-four currently recognized species, Sect. Fuchsia is the largest section within the genus, the flowers are perfect, with convolute petals
27.
Asteraceae
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Asteraceae or Compositae is a very large and widespread family of flowering plants. The family currently has 32,913 accepted species names, in 1,911 genera and 13 subfamilies, in terms of numbers of species, the Asteraceae are rivaled only by the Orchidaceae. Many members have composite flowers in the form of flower heads surrounded by involucral bracts, when viewed from a distance, each capitulum may have the appearance of being a single flower. The name Asteraceae comes from the type genus Aster, from the Greek ἀστήρ, meaning star, Compositae is an older but still valid name which refers to the fact that the family is one of the few angiosperm ones to have composite flowers. Most members of Asteraceae are herbaceous, but a significant number are also shrubs, vines, the family has a worldwide distribution, from the polar regions to the tropics, colonizing a wide variety of habitats. It is most common in the arid and semiarid regions of subtropical, the Asteraceae may represent as much as 10% of autochthonous flora in many regions of the world. Asteraceae is an important family, providing products such as cooking oils, lettuce, sunflower seeds, artichokes, sweetening agents, coffee substitutes. Several genera are of importance, including pot marigold, Calendula officinalis, Echinacea, various daisies, fleabane, chrysanthemums, dahlias, zinnias. Asteraceae are important in medicine, including Grindelia, yarrow. A number of species are considered invasive, including, most notably in North America, dandelion, the name Asteraceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from New Latin, from Aster, the type genus, + -aceae, a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word aster, star, Compositae, an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in only a few other angiosperm families. The study of family is known as synantherology. The vernacular name daisy, widely applied to members of family, is derived from its Old English name, dægesege, from dæges eage. This is because the open at dawn and close at dusk. Composite flowers have a distribution, and are found everywhere except Antarctica. They are especially numerous in tropical and subtropical regions, Compositae were first described in 1792 by the German botanist Paul Dietrich Giseke. Traditionally, two subfamilies were recognised, Asteroideae and Cichorioideae, the latter has been shown to be extensively paraphyletic, and has now been divided into 12 subfamilies, but the former still stands. The phylogenetic tree presented below is based on Panero & Funk updated in 2014, the diamond denotes a very poorly supported node, the dot a poorly supported node
28.
Cucurbitaceae
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The Cucurbitaceae family ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food. The Cucurbitaceae consist of 98 proposed genera with 975 species, mainly in tropical and subtropical. All species are sensitive to frost, most of the plants in this family are annual vines, but some are woody lianas, thorny shrubs, or trees. Many species have large, yellow or white flowers, the stems are hairy and pentangular. Tendrils are present at 90° to the petioles at nodes. Leaves are exstipulate alternate simple palmately lobed or palmately compound, the flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant. The female flowers have inferior ovaries, the fruit is often a kind of modified berry called a pepo. One of the oldest fossil records so far is Cucurbitaciphyllum lobatum from the Paleocene epoch, found at Shirley Canal and it was described for the first time in 1924 by Knowlton. The fossil leaf is palmate, trilobed with rounded lobal sinuses and it has a leaf pattern similar to the members of the genera Kedrostis, Melothria and Zehneria. Cucurbits are represented in 23 of the 134 mosaics containing images of crop plants, several of the cucurbit images have not been found elsewhere, suggesting a diverse and highly developed local horticulture of cucurbits in Israel during the Byzantine era. Representations of mature sponge gourds are found in localities, suggestive of the high value accorded to cleanliness. The name Cucurbitaceae comes to scientific vocabulary from New Latin, from Cucurbita, the type genus, + -aceae. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word cucurbita, gourd, bates D, Robinson R, Jeffrey C, ed. Biology and Utilization of the Cucurbitaceae. CS1 maint, Multiple names, editors list Jeffrey C, Cucurbitaceae in L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz. The families of flowering plants, descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval
29.
Fruit anatomy
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Fruit anatomy is the internal structure of fruits. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers, in fleshy fruits, the outer layer is the pericarp, which is the tissue that develops from the ovary wall of the flower and surrounds the seeds. But in some seemingly pericarp fruits, the portion is not derived from the ovary. For example, in the fruit of the tree the edible portion is an aril. The outer covering of a seed is tough because the parent plant needs to protect the plant growing, some plants commonly called vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash, are actually fruits. Fruits are found in three main categories, Simple fruits are formed from a single ovary and may contain one or many seeds. They can be fleshy or dry. Berries and drupes are examples of simple fleshy fruits, pomes are both accessory fruits and simple fruits. Aggregate fruits are formed from a compound flower and contain many ovaries. Multiple fruits are formed from the ovaries of multiple flowers. An example of a fruit is pineapple. In berries and drupes, the forms the edible tissue around the seeds. In other fruits such as Citrus stone fruits only some layers of the pericarp are eaten, in accessory fruits, other tissues develop into the edible portion of the fruit instead, for example the receptacle of the flower in strawberries. In a citrus fruit, the epicarp and mesocarp make up the peel, epicarp is a botanical term for the outermost layer of the pericarp. The epicarp forms the outer skin of the fruit, if there is one. The epicarp is sometimes called the exocarp, or, especially in Citrus, in citrus fruits, the flavedo constitutes the peripheral surface of the pericarp. When ripe, the cells contain carotenoids inside chromoplasts, which, in a previous developmental stage. This hormonally controlled progression in development is responsible for the change of color from green to yellow upon ripening
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Botany
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Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
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History of botany
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Rudimentary botanical science began with empirically-based plant lore passed from generation to generation in the oral traditions of paleolithic hunter-gatherers. In Europe, this early botanical science was soon overshadowed by a preoccupation with the medicinal properties of plants that lasted more than 1000 years. During this time, the works of classical antiquity were reproduced in manuscripts. In China and the Arab world, the Greco-Roman work on plants was preserved and extended. Herbals were replaced by floras, books that described the plants of local regions. The invention of the microscope stimulated the study of plant anatomy, with the expansion of trade and exploration beyond Europe, the many new plants being discovered were subjected to an increasingly rigorous process of naming, description, and classification. Botany and zoology are, historically, the disciplines of biology whose history is closely associated with the natural sciences chemistry, physics. A distinction can be made between botanical science in a sense, as the study of plants themselves, and botany as applied science. Early natural history divided pure botany into three main streams morphology-classification, anatomy and physiology – that is, external form, internal structure, and functional operation. Since the origin of science there has been a progressive increase in the scope of the subject as technology has opened up new techniques. Modern molecular systematics, for example, entails the principles and techniques of taxonomy, molecular biology, computer science, within botany there are a number of sub-disciplines that focus on particular plant groups, each with their own range of related studies. Included here are, phycology, pteridology, bryology and palaeobotany, to this list can be added mycology, the study of fungi, which were once treated as plants, but are now ranked as a unique kingdom. During the Neolithic Revolution plant knowledge increased most obviously through the use of plants for food, all of todays staple foods were domesticated in prehistoric times as a gradual process of selection of higher-yielding varieties took place, possibly unknowingly, over hundreds to thousands of years. Legumes were cultivated on all continents but cereals made up most of the diet, rice in East Asia, wheat and barley in the Middle east. By Greco-Roman times popular food plants of today, including grapes, apples, figs, Botanical authority William Stearn has observed that cultivated plants are mankinds most vital and precious heritage from remote antiquity. It is also from the Neolithic, in about 3000 BC, however protobotany, the first pre-scientific written record of plants, did not begin with food, it was born out of the medicinal literature of Egypt, China, Mesopotamia and India. Ancient India An early example of ancient Indian plant classification is found in the Rigveda, Plants are divided into vṛska, osadhi and virudha, with further subdivisions. The sacred Hindu text Atharvaveda divides plants into eight classes, visakha, manjari, sthambini, prastanavati, ekasṛnga, pratanavati, amsumati, and kandini
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History of plant systematics
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The history of plant systematics—the biological classification of plants—stretches from the work of ancient Greek to modern evolutionary biologists. As a field of science, plant systematics came into being only slowly, early plant lore usually being treated as part of the study of medicine, later, classification and description was driven by natural history and natural theology. Until the advent of the theory of evolution, nearly all classification was based on the scala naturae, the professionalization of botany in the 18th and 19th century marked a shift toward more holistic classification methods, eventually based on evolutionary relationships. He did not articulate a formal scheme, but relied on the common groupings of folk taxonomy combined with growth form, tree shrub, undershrub. Later influential Renaissance books include those of Caspar Bauhin and Andrea Cesalpino, Bauhin described over 6000 plants, which he arranged into 12 books and 72 sections based on a wide range of common characteristics. Cesalpino based his system on the structure of the organs of fructification, in the late 17th century, the most influential classification schemes were those of English botanist and natural theologian John Ray and French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. Ray, who listed over 18,000 plant species in his works, is credited with establishing the division and some of his groups — mustards, mints. Tournefort used a system based on logical division which was widely adopted in France. The book that had an accelerating effect on the science of plant systematics was Species Plantarum by Linnaeus. Of the groups in this book, the highest rank that continues to be used today is the genus, the consistent use of binomial nomenclature along with a complete listing of all plants provided a huge stimulus for the field. Although meticulous, the classification of Linnaeus served merely as a manual, it was based on phenetics. It assumed that plant species were given by God and that remained for humans was to recognise them. Linnaeus was quite aware that the arrangement of species in the Species Plantarum was not a natural system, however he did present some ideas of plant relationships elsewhere. Significant contributions to plant classification came from de Jussieu in 1789, a major influence on plant systematics was the theory of evolution, resulting in the aim to group plants by their phylogenetic relationships. To this was added the interest in plant anatomy, aided by the use of the light microscope, currently, the strict use of epithets in botany, although regulated by international codes, is considered unpractical and outdated. The very notion of species, the fundamental unit, is often up to subjective intuition. As a result, estimate of the number of existing species becomes a matter of preference. In the 1990s DNA technology saw immense progress, resulting in unprecedented accumulation of DNA sequence data from various genes present in compartments of plant cells, in 1998 a ground-breaking classification of the angiosperms consolidated molecular phylogenetics as the best available method
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Ethnobotany
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Ethnobotany is the study of a regions plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, and clothing. Since the time of Schultes, the field of ethnobotany has grown from simply acquiring ethnobotanical knowledge to that of applying it to a modern society, intellectual property rights and benefit-sharing arrangements are important issues in ethnobotany. The idea of ethnobotany was first proposed by the early 20th century botanist John William Harshberger, european botanical knowledge drastically expanded once the New World was discovered due to ethnobotany. This expansion in knowledge can be attributed to the substantial influx of new plants from the Americas, including crops such as potatoes, peanuts, avocados. One French explorer in the 16th century, Jacques Cartier, discovered a cure for scurvy from a local Iroquoi tribe, during the medieval period, ethnobotanical studies were commonly found connected with monasticism. Notable at this time was Hildegard von Bingen, however, most botanical knowledge was kept in gardens such as physic gardens attached to hospitals and religious buildings. It was thought of in practical use terms for culinary and medical purposes, carl Linnaeus carried out in 1732 a research expedition in Scandinavia asking the Sami people about their ethnological usage of plants. The age of enlightenment saw a rise in economic botanical exploration, alexander von Humboldt collected data from the New World, and James Cooks voyages brought back collections and information on plants from the South Pacific. At this time major botanical gardens were started, for instance the Royal Botanic Gardens, the directors of the gardens sent out gardener-botanist explorers to care for and collect plants to add to their collections. Edward Palmer collected material culture artifacts and botanical specimens from people in the North American West, the first individual to study the emic perspective of the plant world was a German physician working in Sarajevo at the end of 19th century, Leopold Glueck. His published work on traditional medical uses of plants done by people in Bosnia has to be considered the first modern ethnobotanical work. In the beginning, ethonobotanical specimens and studies were not very reliable and this is because the botanists and the anthropologists did not always collaborate in their work. The botanists focused on identifying species and how the plants were used instead of concentrating upon how plants fit into peoples lives, on the other hand, anthropologists were interested in the cultural role of plants and treated other scientific aspects superficially. In the early 20th century, botanists and anthropologists better collaborated, beginning in the 20th century, the field of ethnobotany experienced a shift from the raw compilation of data to a greater methodological and conceptual reorientation. This is also the beginning of academic ethnobotany, the so-called father of this discipline is Richard Evans Schultes, even though he did not actually coin the term ethnobotany. Mark Plotkin, who studied at Harvard University, the Yale School of Forestry, Plotkin was interviewed in 1998 by South American Explorer magazine, just after the release of Tales of a Shamans Apprentice and the IMAX movie Amazonia. It shouldnt be the doctor versus the witch doctor and it should be the best aspects of all medical systems combined in a way which makes health care more effective and more affordable for all
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Paleobotany
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Paleobotany includes the study of terrestrial plant fossils, as well as the study of prehistoric marine photoautotrophs, such as photosynthetic algae, seaweeds or kelp. A closely related field is palynology, which is the study of fossilized and extant spores, Paleobotany has also become important to the field of archaeology, primarily for the use of phytoliths in relative dating and in paleoethnobotany. Macroscopic remains of vascular plants are first found in the fossil record during the Silurian Period of the Paleozoic era. An important early land plant fossil locality is the Rhynie Chert, the Rhynie chert is an Early Devonian sinter deposit composed primarily of silica. It is exceptional due to its preservation of different clades of plants, from mosses and lycopods to more unusual. Many fossil animals, including arthropods and arachnids, are found in the Rhynie Chert. Plant-derived macrofossils become abundant in the Late Devonian and include tree trunks, fronds, angiosperms evolved during the Mesozoic, and flowering plant pollen and leaves first appear during the Early Cretaceous, approximately 130 million years ago. A plant fossil is any preserved part of a plant that has long since died, such fossils may be prehistoric impressions that are many millions of years old, or bits of charcoal that are only a few hundred years old. Prehistoric plants are various groups of plants that lived before recorded history, plant fossils can be preserved in a variety of ways, each of which can give different types of information about the original parent plant. These modes of preservation are discussed in the pages on fossils. These are the most commonly found type of plant fossil and they provide good morphological detail, especially of dorsiventral plant parts such as leaves. If the cuticle is preserved, they can also yield fine anatomical detail of the epidermis, little other detail of cellular anatomy is normally preserved. These provide fine detail of the anatomy of the plant tissue. Morphological detail can also be determined by serial sectioning, but this is time consuming and difficult. These only tend to preserve the more robust plant parts such as seeds or woody stems and they can provide information about the three-dimensional form of the plant, and in the case of casts of tree stumps can provide evidence of the density of the original vegetation. However, they rarely preserve any fine morphological detail or cell anatomy, a subset of such fossils are pith casts, where the centre of a stem is either hollow or has delicate pith. After death, sediment enters and forms a cast of the cavity of the stem. The best known examples of pith casts are in the Carboniferous Sphenophyta and these can provide very fine, three-dimensional morphological detail, and have proved especially important in the study of reproductive structures that can be severely distorted in adpressions
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Plant anatomy
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Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal structure of plants. Plant anatomy is now frequently investigated at the level, and often involves the sectioning of tissues. He developed concepts of plant morphology and classification, which did not withstand the scrutiny of the Renaissance. A Swiss physician and botanist, Gaspard Bauhin, introduced binomial nomenclature into plant taxonomy and he published Pinax theatri botanici in 1596, which was the first to use this convention for naming of species. His criteria for classification included natural relationships, or affinities, which in many cases were structural and it was in the late 1600s that plant anatomy became refined into a modern science. Italian doctor and microscopist, Marcello Malpighi, was one of the two founders of plant anatomy, in 1671 he published his Anatomia Plantarum, the first major advance in plant physiogamy since Aristotle. The other founder was the British doctor Nehemiah Grew and he published An Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants in 1672 and The Anatomy of Plants in 1682. Grew is credited with the recognition of plant cells, although he called them vesicles and he correctly identified and described the sexual organs of plants and their parts. In the Eighteenth Century, Carl Linnaeus established taxonomy based on structure and he published his master work, Species Plantarum in 1753. In 1802, French botanist Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel, published Traité danatomie et de physiologie végétale establishing the beginnings of the science of plant cytology, in 1812, Johann Jacob Paul Moldenhawer published Beyträge zur Anatomie der Pflanzen, describing microscopic studies of plant tissues. Using a scientific basis, he established structural criteria for defining and separating plant genera, in 1830, Franz Meyen published Phytotomie, the first comprehensive review of plant anatomy. A German-Polish botanist, Eduard Strasburger, described the process in plant cells. His Studien über Protoplasma was published in 1876, gottlieb Haberlandt, a German botanist, studied plant physiology and classified plant tissue based upon function. On this basis, in 1884 he published Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie in which he described twelve types of tissue systems, British paleobotanists Dunkinfield Henry Scott and William Crawford Williamson described the structures of fossilized plants at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Scotts Studies in Fossil Botany was published in 1900 and he published his The Anatomy of Woody Plants in 1917. The growth of plant anatomy was spearheaded by British botanist Agnes Arber. She published Water Plants, A Study of Aquatic Angiosperms in 1920, Monocotyledons, A Morphological Study in 1925 and she followed up with her Anatomy of seed plants in 1960. Plant morphology Plant physiology Eames, Arthur Johnson and MacDaniels, Laurence H, an Introduction to Plant Anatomy 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York, link
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Plant ecology
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A global overview of the Earths major vegetation types is provided by O. W. This breadth of topics shows the complexity of plant ecology, since it includes plants from floating single-celled algae up to large canopy forming trees, one feature that defines plants is photosynthesis. One of the most important aspects of plant ecology is the plants have played in creating the oxygenated atmosphere of earth. It can be dated by the deposition of banded iron formations, at the same time, plants began removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby initiating the process of controlling Earths climate. One of the classic books on plant ecology was written by J. E. Weaver. It talks broadly about plant communities, and particularly the importance of forces like competition, although some of the terminology is dated, this important book can still often be obtained in used book stores. Plant ecology can also be divided by levels of organization including plant ecophysiology, plant population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, the study of plants and vegetation is complicated by their form. First, most plants are rooted in the soil, which makes it difficult to observe and measure nutrient uptake, second, plants often reproduce vegetatively, that is asexually, in a way that makes it difficult to distinguish individual plants. Indeed, the concept of an individual is doubtful, since even a tree may be regarded as a large collection of linked meristems. Hence, plant ecology and animal ecology have different styles of approach to problems that involve processes like reproduction, dispersal, some plant ecologists have placed considerable emphasis upon trying to treat plant populations as if they were animal populations, focusing on population ecology. Plant ecology has its origin in the application of plant physiology to the questions raised by plant geographers, carl Ludwig Willdenow was one of the first to note that similar climates produced similar types of vegetation, even when they were located in different parts of the world. Willdenows student, Alexander von Humboldt, used physiognomy to describe vegetation types, later plant geographers who built upon Humboldts work included Joakim Frederik Schouw, A. P. de Candolle, August Grisebach and Anton Kerner von Marilaun. Working from herbarium collections, De Candolle searched for general rules of plant distribution, grisebachs two-volume work, Die Vegetation der Erde nach Ihrer Klimatischen Anordnung, published in 1872, saw plant geography reach its ultimate form as a descriptive field. Warming successfully incorporated plant morphology, physiology taxonomy and biogeography into plant geography to create the field of plant ecology, although more morphological than physiological, Schimpers has been considered the beginning of plant physiological ecology. Plant ecology was initially built around static ideas of plant distribution, henry Chandler Cowles studies of plant succession on the Lake Michigan sand dunes and Frederic Clements 1916 monograph on the subject established it as a key element of plant ecology. Plant ecology developed within the discipline of ecology over the twentieth century. Inspired by Warmings Plantesamfund, Arthur Tansley set out to map British plant communities, in 1913, the British Vegetation Committee organised the British Ecological Society, the first professional society of ecologists. This was followed in 1917 by the establishment of the Ecological Society of America, Plant distributions is governed by a combination of historical factors, ecophysiology and biotic interactions
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Phytogeography
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Phytogeography or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of plant species and their influence on the earths surface. Geobotany, by contrast, focuses on the geographic influence on plants. Phytogeography is part of a general science known as biogeography. Phytogeographers are concerned with patterns and process in plant distribution, most of the major questions and kinds of approaches taken to answer such questions are held in common between phyto- and zoogeographers. Phytogeography in wider sense encompasses four fields, according with the aspect, environment, flora, vegetation and origin, respectively, plant ecology, plant geography. Historical plant geography Phytogeography is often divided into two branches, ecological phytogeography and historical phytogeography. The basic data elements of phytogeography are occurrence records with operational units such as political units or geographical coordinates. These data are used to construct phytogeographic provinces and elements. The questions and approaches in phytogeography are largely shared with zoogeography, the term phytogeography itself suggests a broad meaning. How the term is applied by practicing scientists is apparent in the way periodicals use the term. The American Journal of Botany, a primary research journal, frequently publishes a section titled Systematics, Phytogeography. Biodiversity patterns are not heavily covered, one of the subjects earliest proponents was Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who is often referred to as the father of phytogeography. Von Humboldt advocated an approach to phytogeography that has characterized modern plant geography. Gross patterns of the distribution of plants became apparent early on in the study of plant geography, for example, Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection, discussed the Latitudinal gradients in species diversity, a pattern observed in other organisms as well. Much research effort in plant geography has since then devoted to understanding this pattern. In 1890, the United States Congress passed an act that appropriated funds to send expeditions to discover the geographic distributions of plants in the United States. The first of these was The Death Valley Expedition, including Frederick Vernon Coville, Frederick Funston, Clinton Hart Merriam, research in plant geography has also been directed to understanding the patterns of adaptation of species to the environment. This is done chiefly by describing geographical patterns of trait/environment relationships and these patterns termed ecogeographical rules when applied to plants represent another area of phytogeography
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Flora
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Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animal life is fauna, Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the gut flora or skin flora. The word flora comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, the distinction between vegetation and flora was first made by Jules Thurmann. Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately, plants are grouped into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be geographically distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland, floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments, Native flora, the native and indigenous flora of an area. The plants that are grown by humans. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants regarded as undesirable, many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various ecosystems. The flora of an area or time period can be documented in a publication also known as a flora. Floras may require specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness, traditionally they are books, but some are now published on CD-ROM or websites. It is said that the Flora Sinensis by the Polish Jesuit Michał Boym was the first book that used the name Flora in this meaning, however, despite its title it covered not only plants, but also some animals of the region. A published flora often contains diagnostic keys, often these are dichotomous keys, which require the user to repeatedly examine a plant, and decide which one of two alternatives given best applies to the plant
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Plant pathology
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Plant pathology is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens and environmental conditions. Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroids, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes, not included are ectoparasites like insects, mites, vertebrate, or other pests that affect plant health by consumption of plant tissues. Control of plant diseases is crucial to the production of food. Plants in both natural and cultivated populations carry inherent disease resistance, but there are examples of devastating plant disease impacts. However, disease control is reasonably successful for most crops, plant diseases cause major economic losses for farmers worldwide. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates indeed that pests and diseases are responsible for about 25% of crop loss, most phytopathogenic fungi belong to the Ascomycetes and the Basidiomycetes. The fungi reproduce sexually and asexually via the production of spores and other structures. Spores may be spread long distances by air or water, or they may be soilborne, Many soil inhabiting fungi are capable of living saprotrophically, carrying out the part of their life cycle in the soil. These are known as facultative saprotrophs, fungal diseases may be controlled through the use of fungicides and other agriculture practices. However, new races of fungi often evolve that are resistant to various fungicides, biotrophic fungal pathogens colonize living plant tissue and obtain nutrients from living host cells. Necrotrophic fungal pathogens infect and kill host tissue and extract nutrients from the dead host cells, see the powdery mildew and rice blast images, below. Significant fungal plant pathogens include, Fusarium spp, magnaporthe grisea Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Ustilago spp. The oomycetes are not true fungi but are fungus-like organisms and they include some of the most destructive plant pathogens including the genus Phytophthora, which includes the causal agents of potato late blight and sudden oak death. Particular species of oomycetes are responsible for root rot, despite not being closely related to the fungi, the oomycetes have developed very similar infection strategies. Oomycetes are capable of using effector proteins to turn off a plants defenses in its infection process, plant pathologists commonly group them with fungal pathogens. Significant oomycete plant pathogens Pythium spp and these are caused by species of Plasmodiophora and Spongospora, respectively. Most bacteria that are associated with plants are actually saprotrophic and do no harm to the plant itself, however, a small number, around 100 known species, are able to cause disease. Bacterial diseases are more prevalent in subtropical and tropical regions of the world
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Phycology
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Phycology is the scientific study of algae. Also known as algology, phycology is a branch of life science, algae are important as primary producers in aquatic ecosystems. Most algae are eukaryotic, photosynthetic organisms that live in a wet environment and they are distinguished from the higher plants by a lack of true roots, stems or leaves. Many species are single-celled and microscopic, many others are multicellular to one degree or another, phycology includes the study of prokaryotic forms known as blue-green algae or cyanobacteria. A number of algae also occur as symbionts in lichens. Harvey has been called the father of modern phycology in part for his division of the algae into four divisions based upon their pigmentation. It was in the late 19th and early 20th century, that became a recognized field of its own. Men such as Friedrich Traugott Kützing continued the descriptive work, in Japan, beginning in 1889, Kintarô Okamura not only provided detailed descriptions of Japanese coastal algae, he also provided comprehensive analysis of their distribution. As early as 1803 Jean Pierre Étienne Vaucher had published on the isogamy in the algae, the 1935 and 1945 comprehensive volumes of Felix Eugen Fritsch consolidated what was then known about the morphology and reproduction of the algae. This was followed in the 1950s by the development of area checklists, the continent with the richest diversity of seaweeds is Australia, which has 2,000 species. Elsie M. Burrows Blackler, Margaret Constance Helen Elsie Conway Phillips) FRSE Visited University of British Columbia in 1969–1970, president of the British Phycological Society 1965–1967
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Dendrology
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Dendrology or xylology is the science and study of wooded plants, specifically, their taxonomic classifications. Some families include only a few woody species, Dendrology, as a discipline of industrial forestry, tends to focus on identification of economically useful woody plants and their taxonomic interrelationships. As an academic course of study, Dendrology will include all plants, native and non-native. A related discipline is the study of Sylvics, which focuses on the autecology of genera, Dendrology is often confused with botany. However, botany is the study of all types of general plants, Dendrology may be considered a subcategory of botany that specializes in the characterization and identification of woody plants. Mike Baillie, Queens University of Belfast Viscount Philippe de Spoelberch Ludwig Beissner Francis A
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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
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