Botany is the branch of biology that studies plants. This group includes autotrophs, eukaryotes, and other organisms, including multicellular organisms, that produce their own food. The plant kingdom contains a huge variety of species. Plant science is the study of species and the ecology, anatomy, and physiology of plants.
What does botany study?
Botany is a branch of plant science. One of the oldest natural sciences studies the metabolism and function of organisms, the so-called plant physiology, as well as the processes of growth, development and reproduction.
Plant science is responsible for the study of heredity (plant genetics), adaptation to the environment, ecology, and geographic distribution. Among the varieties worth mentioning are geobotany, phytogeography and paleontology (the study of fossils).
History of botany
Botany is a branch of plant science. Botany has been considered as a science since the period of European colonialism, although human interest in plants goes back much further. The area of study included plants and trees on their own land, as well as exotic specimens brought back during numerous travels. And in ancient times, willy-nilly, we had to study certain plants. Since the dawn of time, people have tried to identify the medicinal properties of plants and their growing season.
Fruits and vegetables have been vital to the social development of all mankind. When there was no science in the modern sense of the word, humanity explored plants as part of the agricultural revolution.
Such prominent figures of Ancient Greece and Rome as Aristotle, Theophrastus and Dioscorides, among other important sciences, advanced botany to a new level. Theophrastus is even called the father of botany, thanks to whom two seminal works were written that were used for 1500 years and continue to be used to this day.
As with many sciences, significant breakthroughs in the study of botany emerged during the Renaissance and Reformation and the dawn of the Enlightenment. The microscope was invented in the late 16th century, making it possible to study plants like never before, including small details such as phytoliths and pollen. Knowledge began to expand not only about the plants themselves, but also about their reproduction, metabolic processes and other aspects that had until then been closed to humanity.
Plant groups
1. All bryophytes are considered the simplest plants; they are small and do not have stems, leaves or roots. Mosses prefer places with high humidity and constantly need water to reproduce.
2. All vascular spore plants, unlike mosses, have vessels that conduct juice, as well as leaves, stems and roots. These plants are also highly dependent on water. Representatives include, for example, ferns and horsetails.
3. All seed plants are more complex plants that have such an important evolutionary advantage as seeds. This is extremely important because it ensures that the embryo is protected and provided with food. There are gymnosperms (pine) and angiosperms (coconut palms).
Plant ecology
Plant ecology is different from botany and focuses on how plants interact with their environment and respond to environmental and climate change. The human population is constantly increasing, and more and more land is required, so the issue of protecting natural resources and caring for them is especially acute.
Plant ecology recognizes eleven main types of environments in which plant life is possible:
- rainforests,
- temperate forests,
- coniferous forests,
- tropical savannas,
- temperate meadows (plains),
- deserts and arid ecosystems,
- Mediterranean Regions,
- terrestrial and wetlands,
- ecology of freshwater, coastal or marine areas and tundra.
Each phylum has its own ecological profile and balanced plant and animal life, and how they interact is important to understanding their evolution.
Biology: botany section
Botany is the science of the structure, life activity, distribution and origin of plants; it explores, systematizes and classifies all these characteristics, as well as the geographical distribution, evolution and ecology of flora. Botany is a branch of science about the entire diversity of the plant world, which includes many branches. For example, paleobotany studies or fossilized specimens extracted from geological layers. Fossilized algae, bacteria, fungi and lichens are also the subject of study. Understanding the past is fundamental to the present. This science may even shed light on the nature and extent of Ice Age plant species.
Archaeobotany is functional in terms of studying the spread of agriculture, drainage of swamps, and so on. Botany (plant biology) conducts research at all levels, including ecosystems, communities, species, individuals, tissues, cells and molecules (genetics, biochemistry). Biologists study many types of plants, including algae, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms and flowering (seed) plants, including wild and cultivated plants.
Botany is a branch of the science of plants and plant growing. The 20th century is considered the golden age of biology, as thanks to new technologies this science can be explored at a whole new level. Advanced ones provide the latest tools for studying both plants and other living organisms that inhabit planet Earth.
father of botany Brunfels
Alternative descriptions. (Alapaha purebred bulldog) powerful dog of medium height
Christine (born 1966) German swimmer, multiple world record holder
Nikolaus August (1832-91) German designer, created a 4-stroke gas internal combustion engine
Rudolf (1869-1937) German Protestant theologian and philosopher of religion
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German engine inventor
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German swimmer, six-time Olympic champion (1988)
German luge athlete, Olympic champion (2002, 2006)
Who is a botanist? This foreign word is often pronounced in everyday life today. But at the same time it is used rather in a humorous, figurative sense. And sometimes it also has an offensive, derogatory connotation. What causes negative reviews about nerds? This, as well as several interpretations of this word, will be discussed in the article.
Scientist and teacher
Dictionaries give several meanings for “botany.” Here are two of them, quite close in meaning:
- A person who has received an education in the field of botany, as well as one who is engaged in this science on a professional basis. Example: The expression “struggle for existence,” as well as the very concept of struggle in nature, were introduced into science a long time ago, mainly by botanists.
- In the second meaning, a botanist is one who teaches botany as a school subject. Example: A young and talented botanist was ill for the second month, and the students who loved him really missed his unusual lessons.
What is botany?
Understanding who a botanist is, it seems that it would be appropriate to talk about the meaning of the word “botany”. The dictionary gives three shades of interpretation of this word:
- The scientific discipline that deals with the study of plants. Example: Theophrastus, who was a student of Aristotle and lived in the 4th-3rd centuries, is considered the “Father of Botany”. BC e.
- An academic subject (at school and at university), which contains the theoretical foundations of the specified scientific discipline. Example: In Russian schools, botany is studied in 5-6th grades according to some programs, and in 6-7th grades according to others.
- In conversation, this is the name given to a textbook that sets out the basics of botany as a science. Example: Having opened his briefcase in class, Alyosha discovered that he had forgotten his botany at home.
Primitive botanists
It turns out that primitive people were to some extent botanists. After all, they had a lot of information about plants, as this was dictated by vital necessity. After all, they constantly had to deal with food, medicinal, and poisonous plants. Thus, knowledge about them was essentially a matter of survival.
The first books, which described not only plants useful to humans, were written by Greek natural scientists. Philosophers considered plants as part of nature and tried to understand their essence and systematize them.
Aristotle
Before Aristotle, researchers were mainly interested in medicinal plants and those that were of economic value. Whereas this learned Greek in the 4th century. BC e. for the first time I thought about their place in nature in general.
From those few materials touching on the topic of plants that have survived to our time, it is clear that Aristotle recognized the existence of two kingdoms of the surrounding world: living and inanimate nature.
He attributed plants to the living kingdom. The scientist believed that they had a soul, although at a lower level of development than that of animals and humans. Aristotle saw common properties in the nature of the animal and plant worlds. For example, he wrote that with regard to some marine inhabitants it is difficult to say for sure whether it is a plant or an animal.
Father of Botany
This high title refers to Aristotle's student Theophrastus. His works are considered as a synthesis into one system of knowledge inherent in the practices of agriculture, medicine, as well as the works of scientists of Antiquity.
Theophrastus was the founder of botany, distinguishing it as an independent science. Describing the methods of using plants in medicine and agriculture, he also dealt with theoretical issues. The influence of this scientist’s works on the future development of botany was enormous for many centuries.
Not a single scientist of the Ancient world managed to rise above him either in describing the forms of plants or in understanding their nature. Of course, judging from the point of view of the modern level of knowledge, some of Theophrastus’s provisions were naive and unscientific.
After all, at that time scientists did not have high research techniques and did not conduct scientific experiments. But it cannot be denied that the level of knowledge that the “father of botany” achieved was very significant. Botany was formed as a coherent system of knowledge about plants by the 17th-18th centuries.
Other meanings
It should be noted that dictionaries also indicate other meanings of the word “nerd”, which is used as slang, having a figurative, dismissive and humorous meaning. There are two options here:
- A botanist is a person who is engaged in study, intellectual development, mental work, doing all this to the detriment of many other realities of life. He neglects social connections, rest, entertainment, and personal life. Such a “nerd” is distinguished by great intelligence, but in communicating with others he is very awkward, does not share the hobbies of his peers, and cannot fight back aggression. As a result, he is often subjected to ridicule; he is called a bore, a nerd, a bookworm. Basically, the slang word “nerd”, as well as “nerd”, is used by schoolchildren and students in relation to their fellow students. “Nerds” are characterized by a stereotypical appearance: they are a physically poorly developed young man, unfashionably or ridiculously dressed, with an unfashionable haircut, and wearing glasses. Sometimes adults who fall under an external stereotype are also called this word. Example: According to Irina, calling a person a “nerd” while mocking him can only be done by someone who is very far along in his development.
- Another slang meaning for a botanist is someone who is poorly versed in a particular field, such as poetry or painting. Example: Despite the fact that Oleg loved to visit art galleries, he was a complete nerd when it came to art.
History of science. Terms and concepts
The Greek scientist Theophrastus is called the "Father of Botany"
The botanical works of Theophrastus can be consideredas the first major compilation into a unified system of knowledge
Theophrastus was the founder of botany as an independent science : along with a description of the use of plants in agriculture and medicine, he considered theoretical issues.
the use of the invented microscope led to the discovery by the English scientist Robert Hooke (1665) of the cellular structure of plants (he also owned the English term cell)
Italian Marcello Malpighi and Englishman Nehemiah Grew laidbasics of plant anatomy
Systematics was one of the first to emerge from botany and become an independent science.
Linnaeus also wrote: “The Ariadne thread of botany is system. Without it there is chaos.”
Systematics - synthesis of all biological knowledge (A.N. Beketov)
Systematics is a special branch (branch) of biology dealing with classification
organisms and elucidation of their evolutionary relationships.
Some people call taxonomy the science of diversity of organisms.
Biological systematics is the science of the means and methods of distinguishing living things
organisms. For biologists, taxonomy is like an alphabet for readers.
NUMBER OF KNOWN SPECIES
the world of living beings is amazingly diverse and, according to the most conservative estimates, has more than 1 million species of animals
according to some zoologistsanimals are significantly more than 2 million.. because only insects - not less than 1 million, nematodes - up to 1 million, bacteria - not less than 1 million, up to 10 million fungi and their different stages)
at least 350 thousand plant species(some botanists bring this figure to half a million).
HISTORY OF SYSTEMATICS
Most often isolated4 main periods of taxonomy development like science:
1. Utilitarian systems (until the 16th century)
2. Artificial systems (from the 16th to the end of the 18th century)
3. Natural systems (late XVIII - mid-XIX centuries)
4. Phylogenetic (evolutionary) systems – post-Darwinian (since 1859)
Utilitarian systems
The main principle is usefulness for humans (method of use): medicinal, food, feed, fragrant, construction….
The classification deserves special attention Theophrastus: trees, shrubs, subshrubs, herbs, terrestrial, aquatic, deciduous, evergreen, flowering and non-flowering….
Theophrastus took into account belonging tolife form and plant ecology
Theophrastus
(371-286 BC) - famous Greek scientist, called the father of botany, originally from the island of Lesbos from the city of Erez, hence the nickname - Theophrastos Eresios. listened first Leucippus in his hometown, then Plato, and after his death he moved to Aristotle, with whom he never parted until the great philosopher left Athens forever. T.'s life proceeded relatively calmly and happily. He was an intelligent, richly gifted man, at the same time kind, humane, with a sympathetic soul. He was an excellent speaker and, according to legend, received the nickname from Aristotle for his eloquence ", Theophrastos" what does "divine speaker" mean? it replaced his original name - Whether this was really so or not, in any case, Theophrastus was the most outstanding and most beloved student of Aristotle, inherited from him his entire library, all the manuscripts, and after the death of his teacher he became the head of the Peripatetic school. The number of his students, according to the testimony of the ancients, reached 2000 people, and his fame spread far beyond the borders of Greece. 227 compositions are attributed to him; most of them were lost, and not a single one was completely preserved, without being damaged by time and scribes. Two large botanical works of Theophrastus have reached us; one called “History”, or, better in meaning, “Natural History of Plants” (Θεοφραστου περί ωυτών ίστορίαι), the other “On the Causes of Plants” (θ. περί αιτιών φυτικώ ν) - a treatise on life phenomena in plants. The natural history of plants consists of 9 books and the content corresponds to our morphology, anatomy and taxonomy of plants. It deals primarily with the main parts of plants, and T. distinguishes between external and internal parts. External - roots, stems, branches and shoots, leaves, flowers, fruits. T. considers the seed, like his predecessors, to be the “egg” of plants, but T. did not know what connection there was between the seed and the flower.,Internal components - bark wood, And core,which in turn consist of,juice fibers lived And meat.,What T. meant by this is not entirely clear. Juice is in some cases milky juice, in others something else, for example. resin or gum. The fibers and veins are undoubtedly named for their resemblance to the corresponding parts of animals.,T.'s fibers are bundles of thick-walled bast, but in other cases, apparently, vascular bundles, for example. in the leaves. The fibers do not branch. The veins are branched tubes filled with juice: lacticifers, resin canals, etc., and again vascular bundles. It is curious that botany still talks about the “veins” and “nerves” of leaves: an interesting experience of terms that have lost their direct meaning, interesting echoes of scientific antiquity. bark Finally, meat is located between the fibers and veins and is characterized by the fact that it is divisible in all directions, while the fibers, for example, are split only lengthwise. Combining in various ways, these 4 main or primary parts form the pith, wood and bark. The external parts of plants are characterized with examples and in some detail. The classification and system of T. plants is very simple; He first divides the entire plant kingdom into 4 divisions:, and in each department he distinguishes two groups: wild and cultivated plants. Then he describes trees and shrubs, mainly Greek, but also foreign ones, touching on many important theoretical and practical issues, talking about natural and artificial propagation of plants, about wood from a technical point of view, about methods of seed dispersal, even about artificial pollination, interprets about life expectancy, disease and death of plants. When it comes to perennials, T. first describes wild ones (there are 2 categories of them - “with thorns” and “without thorns”), then cultivated ones: “plants for wreaths,” that is, garden “flowers” and ornamental plants. This group includes T. and roses (and therefore shrubs) and annual herbs. Two books of the work are devoted to herbs, mainly cereals, legumes, vegetables, etc. In total, T. was aware of more or less 400 plants, including spore plants: ferns, mushrooms, algae. It is clear from the text, by the way, that he knew not only Mediterranean algae, but also large forms from the Atlantic, apparently kelp (book 4, chapter VII). In general, T.'s descriptions of plants are brief and not clear enough, so in most cases it is not easy to guess which plant he is talking about. The last (9th) book of “Natural History,” considered by some to be T.’s special work, treats specific juices and the healing powers of roots. It is much weaker than others, of a narrowly applied nature, and in its content and presentation it is a work of the type of those “materia medica”, which for many centuries after T. were the only and pitiful representatives of botanical knowledge. T.'s second work - "On the Causes of Plants", or, more correctly in meaning, "On the vital phenomena of plants" - represents, as it were, a processing of the same factual material, but from a different point of view; The content is theoretical and applied plant physiology. The entire work consists of 6 books and begins with a description of the methods of origin, reproduction and growth of plants. T. allows for the spontaneous generation of plants, as was assumed before and for many centuries after it. “Spontaneously,” he says, “those plants that are smaller and, mainly, annual and herbaceous (book 1, chapter V). Assuming this method as primary, T., nevertheless, considers the propagation of plants by seeds and other in parts the most ordinary and most common, so to speak, normal. He examines in detail the influence of external conditions on plants, mainly trees - heat, cold, winds and soil, and the changes that plants undergo both under the influence of external factors and under the influence of culture. . Further, he talks about the cultivation of various plants, from trees to cereals and vegetables, and explains in detail about the propagation of plants by seeds, grafting, budding and other applied issues of horticulture and agriculture. An entire book (5th) is devoted to abnormal phenomena in the life of plants; The chapters on diseases, natural and artificial death of plants are interesting. The last (sixth) book, as in the first work, is much weaker than the others; she talks about the taste and smell of plants. These are the botanical works of T. Quickly looking through them, one is involuntarily amazed by the richness of the content, the extraordinary diversity and importance of the problems raised. When you delve into the text, you feel disappointed and again involuntarily surprised at the discrepancy between the enormity of the tasks and questions and the pitiful answers to them, between the extraordinary, truly “divine” inquisitiveness of the mind and its poor, dull satisfaction. A critical and impartial assessment of T. is not easy. It is not easy because the text of his works has not reached us completely intact, and secondly, because in general little is known about the development and history of scientific thought in Ancient Greece. First of all, we do not know what belongs to T. himself and what to his teacher, Aristotle. Aristotle's work on plants (θεωρία περί φυτών) is lost. T. inherited the library, the manuscripts of his teacher, among which, very likely, there were still unpublished works, perhaps rough notes containing his thoughts, notes, and facts he had selected. Perhaps T. is more of a publisher of Aristotle's works and a preacher of his ideas than an independent thinker and scientist. At the very least, he drew abundantly and unashamedly from this source. Moreover, the confidence in this grows that he does not quote Aristotle anywhere, even when he repeats verbatim some passages from his works. It is possible, as some admirers of T. want, that he did this with the consent and even at the will of Aristotle himself, but this does not change the essence of the matter: we do not know what belongs to him and what does not belong to him. In any case, the enormous influence of Aristotle is obvious. T.'s plant anatomy is undoubtedly an imitation of Aristotle's animal anatomy; this is reflected both in the general idea and in the details. He tries to apply the principles, the theory developed by Aristotle regarding the organization of animals, to the structure of plants, and this preconceived desire could not but lead him into dissonance with the facts. Theory reigns, but there is little concern about the reliability of facts. In general, T.'s factual information about the plant kingdom rose little above current opinions developed by everyday life, above what farmers, collectors and sellers of medicinal herbs, and merchants knew. T.'s credulity in the stories of these people is extremely great, and his own observations, his direct acquaintance with the plant world was extremely limited, and in this respect, as well as in the clarity and certainty of presentation, T. is greatly inferior to his teacher, Aristotle. Sprengel rightly emphasizes T.’s frequent “that’s what they say” or “that’s what the Arcadians say.” He is no less right in pointing out that T., apparently, except for Attica, Euboea and Lesbos, was hardly anywhere, even in Greece, although in his time this could be done with complete convenience. Meyer's attempt to eliminate this reproach by suggesting that T. collected materials - "at least for the most part during travel" - has no factual basis. From the descriptions of many plants it is clear that T. knew them only by hearsay. According to the ancients, T. built a botanical garden - perhaps, but we do not know what grew in it and what T. did in it. In T., as in most outstanding scientists of the ancient world, we see enormous erudition, great and noble the desire for truth, a fiery thirst to penetrate the secrets of nature and along with this - a complete inability to scientifically study this nature, moreover - dislike, dislike for the painstaking but necessary work of establishing and studying facts; this is left behind as something insignificant, base, and all the talent, all the energy goes into the area of abstract reasoning and often with amazing wit and impeccable logic a harmonious, but completely false idea of the physical phenomena of nature is created, in other cases it turns out just a play on words , it turns out to be an illusion of knowledge, but in reality it is just self-deception. All this makes us take a more careful and objective approach to T., and at the same time to everything that classical antiquity gave for botany, especially since they usually overestimate the importance of T. and treat it with exaggerated enthusiasm. The name "father of botany" has become popular. Ferdinand Cohn calls him the "father of scientific botany", apparently fascinated by the variety and depth of T. trees In this regard, T.'s merit is undoubted. But the point is that answers T. are imperfect, vague, naive and far from what is called “scientific”. There is still very little “science” in T.’s work, and botanical "science" - not a child of T. Two other historians of botany, E. Meyer and K. Jessen, also tended to exaggerate the significance of T. and sometimes, to maintain the brightness of its halo, they indulged in subjective, unlikely assumptions. K. Sprengel and, in a short note, Yu. Vizner treated him more strictly. So, T.’s botanical works cannot be called scientific V strictly speaking this word. This is a collection of observations and information about plants, to varying degrees reliable, diligently collected, sometimes successfully compared, often useful for practical life. This was the best collection of information about the plant kingdom in all of antiquity and for many centuries after T. This is a venerable and useful work. He awakened thought, pointed it to great problems, aroused interest in the plant world, and this is its great, undeniable significance. Finally, for us this is a precious monument of ancient Greek culture, ancient thought with all its positive and negative sides. T. was first translated from Greek into Latin by Theodore Gaza and published in Treviso in 1483: “Theophrasti de historia et de causis plantarum libros ut latinos legeremus,” Theodoras Gaza (folio). This is the first edition, there have been many since then, see for a detailed list. Pritzel, "Thesaurus literaturae botanicae" (1851); details about T. see .: Kurt Sprengel, "Geschichte der Botanik" (I h., 1817) and "Theophrast"s Naturgeschichte der Gewächse, übersetzt und erläutert von K. Sprengel" (I-II, 1822); E. Meyer, "Geschichte der Botanik" ( T . I, 1854);"K. Jessen, "Botanik der Gegenwart und Vorzeit in culturhistorischer Entwickelung" (1864); J. Wiesner, "Biologie der Pflanzen. Mit einem Anhang: die historische Entwicklung der Botanik" (1889,
there is a Russian translation.); F. Cohn, "Die Pflanze. Vortrage aus dem Gebiete der Botanik" (.
Theophrastus left a large number of works, of which only a few have reached us. Several more or less large excerpts from the works are given by various ancient authors - doxographers. The following have reached us: 1) 9 books about plants (περι φυτών ίστορίαι) and about their principles (περι αίτιων φυτικων, 6 books) - a botanical work of equal importance neither in ancient times nor in the Middle Ages century; 2) about stones (περί λίθων) - a mineralogical passage. essays on stone carving; 3) characters (χαρακτηρες) - the most famous of T.’s works, which inspired La Bruere; represents an attempt to individually characterize vices and comic properties, written, as Casaubon proved, under the influence of Attic stage art (T. was a friend of Menander) and is important for the study of the Attic stage; 4) about sensations (περί αισθησεων και αισθητών) - an excerpt from the history of physics T., which sets out the theories of sensation that were in use before T., and their criticism; 5) metaphysics (μεταφυσικα) - a passage that treats the principles of being and corresponds to the second book of Aristotle’s Metaphysics. T. generally followed his teacher Aristotle, trying only to be his interpreter and fill in his gaps;