8-9 Botany Intro

Botany.

Today’s Objectives:

1. Define Botany and understand its significance
2. Discuss history of Botany and some notable figures
3. Explain why the study of botany is relevant
4. Identify and understand the different plant types
5. External and Internal plant anatomy

Definition

●Botany is a branch of Biology that
deals with the study of plant:

○Physiology

○Structure

■Biochemical processes

○Genetics

○Ecology

○Distribution

○Classification

○Economic importance

Definition

●Botany is a branch of
Biology that deals with the
study of plants, such as:

○Physical characteristics

○Structure

○Genetics

○Ecology

■How a species fits into
the whole picture

○Distribution

○Classification

■Organization

○Importance

Botany Importance

●Vital scientific discipline with far-reaching implications for society
and the planet.

●Essential for our understanding of the natural world

○Plants are a key to all life on Earth

■Ability to convert energy from the Sun into usable
energy and produce oxygen for other living things

●Sustainable resource management

●Food production

●Medicine

●Environmental conservation

●It plays a pivotal role in addressing global challenges

○food security

○biodiversity loss

Short History of Botany

●“The term "botany" itself likely came from
the Greek words botanikos (botanical) and
botane (plant or herb). The Greek
philosopher Aristotle collected information
about plants but it was really his student
Theophrastus [371-286 B.C.] who
inherited his teacher's library and began to
devise more complex systems of plant
classification. He is sometimes referred to
as the "Father of Botany."

●Merritt Lyndon Fernald (right), was an
American Botanist noted for his
comprehensive study and collection of
plants in NE (Maine area). 1887-1950

Undated. Unidentified image of Merrit Lyndon Fernald (left) and
towering stack of plant presses. Courtesy of The Archives of the
Gray Herbarium, Harvard University.

History continued: Father of Taxonomy

●Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

●Swedish Botanist, Zoologist,
Taxonomist, and physician

●“Father of Taxonomy” or “The who
designed the modern naming system of
organisms

○Binomial nomenclature

○Framing principles for universal language
to describe and organize living organisms

Basic Breakdown of Plant Categories

●

Angiosperms

●