Introduction To Botany PDF

Introduction to Botany Botany comes from the Greek word “botane” for “grass”. - Branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, their forms, functions, parts, classification, diseases and other related to their life cycle and interaction to their environment. - Plant Biology Plant...

Introduction to Botany Botany comes from the Greek word “botane” for “grass”. - Branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, their forms, functions, parts, classification, diseases and other related to their life cycle and interaction to their environment. - Plant Biology Plants are important component of our ecosystem. Plants functions: 1. Food 2. Clothes 3. Money 4. Medicine 5. House 6. Decoration 7. Ornament 8. oxygen Brief history of Botany Theoprastus – Father of Botany - made crude classifications based on whether a plant flower (Phanerograms) or not (Cryptograms). Classifications of plants: 1. Herbs 2. Subshrubs 3. Shrubs 4. Trees Caius Plinius Secundus – “Pliny the elde” - described sunstantially the biological, medicinal, and agricultural aspects of the plants. - “stamen” was first used by pliny. Pedanios Dioscorides – physician of the Roman army. - his work compiled in the form of Materia Medica – described the medicinal properties of about 600 species of plants. - Aloe, Anemone, Phaseolus and Arisolochia are still being used in contemporary botanical literature.  Plant classification was the main agendum of botanist during the middle ages until the seventeenth century. The discovery of new plant species was influenced by the invention of printing and advancement in navigation. Botany incorporated into genetics, chemistry, and molecular biology to discover how much useful plants in medicine, agriculture, material science and many other knowledge. Bioprospecting of plants allows scientists to extract novel compounds that are refined to produce new medicines. Engineering plant genes allows for better refiningof economically important crops such as papaya and banana to avoid early spoilage and rotting.  Importance of plants to science and society 1. Main source of food 2. Source of medicine 3. Source of fuel 4. Source of housing and construction materials 5. Source of accessories, clothing and cosmetics 6. Contribution to aesthetics and man`s understanding of natural beauty 7. Inspiration of arts and humanities 8. Improvement of urban ecology 9. Conservation of biodiversity 10. Buffer to the changing climate Characteristics of life 1. Living things are composed of cells 2. Living things have different levels of organization (cell-tissues- organ – organ system – organism – population – community) 3. Living things reproduce 4. Living organism use energy – ATP 5. Living organisms respond to their environment 6. Living organisms grow and develop 7. Living organism adapt to their environment