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Botany

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Botany is the scientific study of plantlife. As a branch of biology, it is also called plant science(s), [[phytology]], or plant biology. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines that study plants, algae, and fungi including: structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, and chemical properties and evolutionary relationships between the different groups. The study of plants and botany began with tribal lore, used to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making botany one of the oldest sciences. From this ancient interest in plants, the scope of botany has increased to include the study of over 550,000 kinds or species of living organisms.

<h2p>Scope and importance of botany</h2p>

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<h3p>Human nutrition</h3p>

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<h3p>Fundamental life processes</h3p>

Plants are convenient organisms in which fundamental life processes (like cell division and protein synthesis for example) can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals or humans. The genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by Gregor Mendel, who was studying the way pea shape is inherited. What Mendel learned from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany. Additionally, Barbara McClintock discovered 'jumping genes' by studying maize. These are a few examples that demonstrate how botanical research has an ongoing relevance to the understanding of fundamental biological processes.

<h3p>Medicine and materials</h3p>

Many medicinal and recreational drugs, like cannabis, caffeine, and nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom. Aspirin, which originally came from the bark of willow trees, is just one example. There may be many novel cures for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular stimulants like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, and tea also come from plants. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermenting plants such as barley malt and grapes.

Plants also provide us with many natural materials, such as cotton, wood, paper, linen, vegetable oils, some types of rope, and rubber. The production of silk would not be possible without the cultivation of the mulberry plant. Sugarcane, rapeseed, soy and other plants with a highly-fermentable sugar or oil content have recently been put to use as sources of biofuels, which are important alternatives to fossil fuels, see biodiesel.

<h3p>Environmental changes</h3p>

Plants can also help us understand changes in on our environment in many ways.

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In many different ways, plants can act a little like the 'miners canary', an early warning system alerting us to important changes in our environment. In addition to these practical and scientific reasons, plants are extremely valuable as recreation for millions of people who enjoy gardening, horticultural and culinary uses of plants every day.

<h2p>Etymology</h2p>

From Greek βοτάνη = "pasture, grass, fodder", perhaps via the idea of a livestock keeper needing to know which plants are safe for livestock to eat.

<h2p>History</h2p>

In 1754 Carl von Linné (Carl Linnaeus) devided the plant Kingdom into 25 classes. One, the Cryptogamia, included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts and ferns).[1]

<h3p>Modern botany</h3p>

A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This weedy species in the mustard family was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. The sequencing of the rice (Oryza sativa) genome and a large international research community have made rice the de facto cereal/grass/monocot model. Another grass species, Brachypodium distachyon is also emerging as an experimental model for understanding the genetic, cellular and molecular biology of temperate grasses. Other commercially-important staple foods like wheat, maize, barley, rye, pearl millet and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced. Some of these are challenging to sequence because they have more than two haploid (n) sets of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy, common in the plant kingdom. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a single-celled, green alga) is another plant model organism that has been extensively studied and provided important insights into cell biology.

In 1998 the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group published a phylogeny of flowering plants based on an analysis of DNA sequences from most families of flowering plants. As a result of this work, major questions such which families represent the earliest branches in the genealogy of angiosperms are now understood. Investigating how plant species are related to each other allows botanists to better understand the process of evolution in plants.

<h3p>Subdisciplines of Botany</h3p>

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<li>Agronomy—Application of plant science to crop production </li>

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<h2p>References</h2p>

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<li>U.S. Geological Survey. National Biological Information Infrastructure: Botany </li>

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<h2p>Further reading</h2p>

<h3p>Popular science style books on Botany</h3p>

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<li>Attenborough, David The Private Life of Plants, ISBN 0-563-37023-8 </li>

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<h3p>Academic and Scientific books on Botany</h3p>

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<li>Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W & Jones, R.L. (2000) Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiologists ISBN 0-943088-39-9 </li>

<h2p>External links</h2p>

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<h3p>Flora and other plant catalogs or databases</h3p>

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<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/www-vl/" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/www-vl/">The Virtual Library of Botany</a> </li>

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