Botany - biology.
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Botany - biology.
I
INTRODUCTION
Botany, branch of biology concerned with the study of plants (kingdom Plantae; see Plant). Plants are now defined as multicellular organisms that carry out
photosynthesis. Organisms that had previously been called plants, however, such as bacteria, algae, and fungi, continue to be the province of botany, because of their
historical connection with the discipline and their many similarities to true plants, and because of the practicality of not fragmenting the study of organisms into too
many separate fields.
Botany is concerned with all aspects of the study of plants, from the smallest and simplest forms to the largest and most complex, from the study of all aspects of an
individual plant to the complex interactions of all the different members of a complicated botanical community of plants with their environment and with animals (see
Ecology).
II
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Because civilization rests in part on a knowledge of plants and their cultivation, botany can be said to have originated with the first cultivation of crops, which may date
from 9000-7000
BC.
Not until about 2300 years ago, however, did humans become interested in plants for their own sake. Thus, botany as a pure science began in the
4th century BC with the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, whose treatises on the classification, morphology, and reproduction of plants heavily influenced the discipline
until the 17th century. Indeed, modern botany began to develop only about the 16th century, at least in part because of the invention of the microscope (1590) and of
printing with movable type (1440).
The Greeks believed that plants derived their nourishment from the soil only. Not until the 17th century did the Belgian scientist Jan Baptista van Helmont show that,
although only water was added to a potted willow, it gained nearly 75 kg (165 lb), whereas the soil it stood in lost only about 60 g (about 2 oz) of weight over a period
of five years. This demonstrated that the soil contributes very little to the increase in the weight of plants. In the 18th century the English chemist Joseph Priestley
demonstrated that growing plants "restore" air from which the oxygen has been removed (by the burning of candles or the breathing of animals), and the Dutch
physiologist Jan Ingenhousz (1730-99) extended this observation by showing that light is required for plants to restore air. These and other discoveries formed the
basis for modern plant physiology, that branch of botany dealing with basic plant functions.
That water moves upward through the wood and that solutes move downward through the stems of plants was discovered independently in the 17th century by
Marcello Malpighi in Italy and Nehemiah Grew in England. These facts have now been known for some 300 years, but only in the last few years have acceptable theories
explaining the movements of liquids in plants been developed, using a variety of refined analytical techniques.
III
CLASSICAL STUDIES
Gross observations and experiments on photosynthesis and the movement of water in plants can be made without knowledge of their structure, but explanations of
these phenomena require knowledge of morphology--the study and interpretation of plant form, development, and life histories--and of anatomy--the study of plant
tissues and their origin and relations to one another. The cellular nature of plants was first pointed out by the English scientist Robert Hooke in the 17th century, when
he observed that cork bark consists of cells. In 1838 the German botanist Matthias Schleiden proposed that all plant tissues consist of cells; this implied a basic
sameness of living things and laid the foundation for the development of cytology, the study of the structure and function of cells as individual units rather than as
aggegrate tissue. The German pathologist Rudolf Virchow showed in 1858 that cells are derived from preexisting cells, and thus that a continuity exists between past
and present living things.
Such observations were important not only in the development of plant physiology and anatomy but also in the understanding of genetics, the science of heredity, and
of evolution. In the 19th century the Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel worked out the basic principles of genetics, using varieties of garden peas and observing
variations in their floral and vegetative features. His hybridization experiments required a knowledge of the function of the various parts of the flower in reproduction,
and this knowledge was derived from the experiments of the Dutch botanist Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, who established the nature of sexual reproduction in plants.
Mendel's experiments went unnoticed until the early 1900s; in the meantime, Charles Darwin founded the theory of evolution (which in modern form depends on the
principles of genetics) without knowledge of Mendel's work. Darwin observed variation and changes in organisms through time, and Mendel worked out the laws
governing the assortment and recombination of different traits. The source of differences and changes was not known, however, until the Dutch botanist Hugo Marie de
Vries observed the spontaneous appearance of new traits in otherwise predictable crosses of evening primroses and suggested that these were the result of changes, or
mutations, in the genes.
Knowledge of anatomy, genetics, and evolution has greatly advanced plant classification by providing a rational basis for this subdivision of botany. The 17th-century
British naturalist John Ray divided plants into nonflowering and flowering types, and flowering plants into dicots and monocots. The 18th-century Swedish botanist
Carolus Linnaeus, however, provided the framework on which modern classifications are based and, just as important, a simplified system of nomenclature in which
each plant is given two names: the first the name of the genus and the second the name of the species.
IV
BOTANY TODAY
Botany does not depend on the fossil record for information concerning evolution and classification as much as does zoology, because the record for plants is much less
complete than that for animals. Nevertheless, paleobotany, the study of fossil plants, has contributed greatly to the overall understanding of the evolution of the major
groups of plants and especially to understanding of the interrelationships among the classes of seed plants. But much remains to be learned before fundamental
questions such as the origin of the flowering plants (see Angiosperm) can be answered.
Botanists--those engaged in the study of plants--occupy themselves with a broad range of activities. Many botanists are in academic positions that involve both
teaching and research duties. The latter may involve laboratory work or field studies. Strictly speaking, botany is a pure science concerned with investigating the basic
nature of plants. Many aspects of botany, however, have direct importance to human welfare and advancement, and applied botany is an important field. Such fields as
forestry and horticulture are closely tied to basic botanical studies, whereas those such as pharmacology and agronomy are not as closely related but still depend on
basic botanical knowledge.
Contributed By:
Marshall R. Crosby
Peter H. Raven
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Botany - biology.
I
INTRODUCTION
Botany, branch of biology concerned with the study of plants (kingdom Plantae; see Plant). Plants are now defined as multicellular organisms that carry out
photosynthesis. Organisms that had previously been called plants, however, such as bacteria, algae, and fungi, continue to be the province of botany, because of their
historical connection with the discipline and their many similarities to true plants, and because of the practicality of not fragmenting the study of organisms into too
many separate fields.
Botany is concerned with all aspects of the study of plants, from the smallest and simplest forms to the largest and most complex, from the study of all aspects of an
individual plant to the complex interactions of all the different members of a complicated botanical community of plants with their environment and with animals (see
Ecology).
II
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Because civilization rests in part on a knowledge of plants and their cultivation, botany can be said to have originated with the first cultivation of crops, which may date
from 9000-7000
BC.
Not until about 2300 years ago, however, did humans become interested in plants for their own sake. Thus, botany as a pure science began in the
4th century BC with the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, whose treatises on the classification, morphology, and reproduction of plants heavily influenced the discipline
until the 17th century. Indeed, modern botany began to develop only about the 16th century, at least in part because of the invention of the microscope (1590) and of
printing with movable type (1440).
The Greeks believed that plants derived their nourishment from the soil only. Not until the 17th century did the Belgian scientist Jan Baptista van Helmont show that,
although only water was added to a potted willow, it gained nearly 75 kg (165 lb), whereas the soil it stood in lost only about 60 g (about 2 oz) of weight over a period
of five years. This demonstrated that the soil contributes very little to the increase in the weight of plants. In the 18th century the English chemist Joseph Priestley
demonstrated that growing plants "restore" air from which the oxygen has been removed (by the burning of candles or the breathing of animals), and the Dutch
physiologist Jan Ingenhousz (1730-99) extended this observation by showing that light is required for plants to restore air. These and other discoveries formed the
basis for modern plant physiology, that branch of botany dealing with basic plant functions.
That water moves upward through the wood and that solutes move downward through the stems of plants was discovered independently in the 17th century by
Marcello Malpighi in Italy and Nehemiah Grew in England. These facts have now been known for some 300 years, but only in the last few years have acceptable theories
explaining the movements of liquids in plants been developed, using a variety of refined analytical techniques.
III
CLASSICAL STUDIES
Gross observations and experiments on photosynthesis and the movement of water in plants can be made without knowledge of their structure, but explanations of
these phenomena require knowledge of morphology--the study and interpretation of plant form, development, and life histories--and of anatomy--the study of plant
tissues and their origin and relations to one another. The cellular nature of plants was first pointed out by the English scientist Robert Hooke in the 17th century, when
he observed that cork bark consists of cells. In 1838 the German botanist Matthias Schleiden proposed that all plant tissues consist of cells; this implied a basic
sameness of living things and laid the foundation for the development of cytology, the study of the structure and function of cells as individual units rather than as
aggegrate tissue. The German pathologist Rudolf Virchow showed in 1858 that cells are derived from preexisting cells, and thus that a continuity exists between past
and present living things.
Such observations were important not only in the development of plant physiology and anatomy but also in the understanding of genetics, the science of heredity, and
of evolution. In the 19th century the Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel worked out the basic principles of genetics, using varieties of garden peas and observing
variations in their floral and vegetative features. His hybridization experiments required a knowledge of the function of the various parts of the flower in reproduction,
and this knowledge was derived from the experiments of the Dutch botanist Rudolph Jacob Camerarius, who established the nature of sexual reproduction in plants.
Mendel's experiments went unnoticed until the early 1900s; in the meantime, Charles Darwin founded the theory of evolution (which in modern form depends on the
principles of genetics) without knowledge of Mendel's work. Darwin observed variation and changes in organisms through time, and Mendel worked out the laws
governing the assortment and recombination of different traits. The source of differences and changes was not known, however, until the Dutch botanist Hugo Marie de
Vries observed the spontaneous appearance of new traits in otherwise predictable crosses of evening primroses and suggested that these were the result of changes, or
mutations, in the genes.
Knowledge of anatomy, genetics, and evolution has greatly advanced plant classification by providing a rational basis for this subdivision of botany. The 17th-century
British naturalist John Ray divided plants into nonflowering and flowering types, and flowering plants into dicots and monocots. The 18th-century Swedish botanist
Carolus Linnaeus, however, provided the framework on which modern classifications are based and, just as important, a simplified system of nomenclature in which
each plant is given two names: the first the name of the genus and the second the name of the species.
IV
BOTANY TODAY
Botany does not depend on the fossil record for information concerning evolution and classification as much as does zoology, because the record for plants is much less
complete than that for animals. Nevertheless, paleobotany, the study of fossil plants, has contributed greatly to the overall understanding of the evolution of the major
groups of plants and especially to understanding of the interrelationships among the classes of seed plants. But much remains to be learned before fundamental
questions such as the origin of the flowering plants (see Angiosperm) can be answered.
Botanists--those engaged in the study of plants--occupy themselves with a broad range of activities. Many botanists are in academic positions that involve both
teaching and research duties. The latter may involve laboratory work or field studies. Strictly speaking, botany is a pure science concerned with investigating the basic
nature of plants. Many aspects of botany, however, have direct importance to human welfare and advancement, and applied botany is an important field. Such fields as
forestry and horticulture are closely tied to basic botanical studies, whereas those such as pharmacology and agronomy are not as closely related but still depend on
basic botanical knowledge.
Contributed By:
Marshall R. Crosby
Peter H. Raven
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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