History of Plant Classification.pptx

Botany

1. HISTORY OF PLANT CLASSIFICATION/TAXONOMY

2. The history of taxonomy dates back to the origin of human language. Western scientific taxonomy started in Greek some hundred years BC and are divided into pre- linnaean and post- linnaean . The most important works are cited and the progress of taxonomy (with the focus on botanical taxonomy) are described up to the era of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who founded modern taxonomy. The development after Linnaeus is characterized by a taxonomy that increasingly have come to reflect the example of evolution.

3. I] Pre- linnaean Taxonomy Earliest taxonomy Taxonomy is as old as the language skill of mankind. It has always been essential to know the names of edible as well as poisonous plants in order to communicate acquired experiences to other members of the family and the tribe. When we speak about ancient taxonomy we usually mean the history in the Western world, starting with Romans and Greek. However, the earliest traces are not from the West, but from the East.

4. In the Eastern world, one of the earliest pharmacopoeias was written by Shen Nung , Emperor of China around 3000 BC . He was a legendary emperor known as the Father of Chinese medicine and is believed to have introduced acupuncture. He wanted to educate his people in agriculture and medicine and is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medicinal value. The pharmacopoeia Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica included 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals.

5. Shen Nung , Emperor of China and Father of Chinese Medicine.

6. 2. The Greeks and Romans a) Aristotle (384–322 BC) In Western scientific taxonomy the Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to classify all living things, and some of his groups are still used today, like the vertebrates and invertebrates, which he called animals with blood and without blood. He further divided the animals with blood into live-bearing and egg-bearing, and formed groups within the animals without blood that we recognize today, such as insects, crustacea and testacea (molluscs).

7. Aristotle (384–322 BC)

8. b) Theophrastus (370–285 BC) He was a student of Aristotle and Platon . He wrote a classification of all known plants, De Historia Plantarum , which contained 480 species. His classification was based on growth form, and we still recognise many of his plant genera, like Narcissus, Crocus and Cornus . This is because Carl Linnaeus accepted many of his generic names. De Historia Plantarum was used for taxonomic purposes until the Middle Ages in Europe.

9. Theophrastus (370–285 BC)

10. c) Dioscorides (40–90 AD) He was a Greek physician, who travelled widely in the Roman and Greek world to gather knowledge about medicinal plants. Between 50-70 AD he wrote De Materia Medica , which contained around 600 species. De Materia Medica was used in medicine until the 16 th century, and was copied several times. The classification in his work is based on the medicinal properties of the species.

11. Dioscorides (40–90 AD)

12. d) Plinius (23–79 AD) He was involved in the Roman army and later in the Roman state. He wrote many books, but the only one that has survived is his Naturalis Historia , a work of 160 voumes , in which he described several plants and gave them Latin names. Many of these names we still recognize, like Populus alba and Populus nigra , and since latin was later kept for botanical science, we may call him the Father of Botanical Latin .

13. Plinius (23–79 AD)

14. 3. The Herbalists With the art of book printing in Europe new books could be made in large numbers. This was the time of the different herbals written by herbalists like Brunfels , Bock, Fuchs, Mattioli , Turner, L’Obel , Gerard, L’Ecluse . We recognize some of these authors in beautiful plants later named by Linnaeus in honour of them: Brunfelsia , Mattiolia , Turnera , Lobelia, Gerardia and Fuchsia . There is usually not much of a classification in the herbals, and the earliest works were merely copying Theophrastos and Dioscorides .

15. 4. Early taxonomists It was not until the end of the 16 th century that taxonomic works became original enough to replace the ancient Greek works. One of the reasons for this was the development of optic lenses, which made it possible to study details in the different species. Collection of specimens became part of the growing sciences, and the emphasis turned from medical aspects to taxonomic aspects.

16. a) Caesalpino (1519–1603) He is one of the earliest authors in Italy, who is sometimes called " the first taxonomist ". In 1583 he wrote De Plantis , a work that contained 1500 species. His classification was based on growth habit together with fruit and seed form, as was that of Theophrastos . Some groups that he recognized we still acknowledge, like the plant families Brassicaceae and Asteraceae .

17. Caesalpino (1519–1603)

18. b) Bauhin Brothers (Jean Bauhin 1541–1631; Gaspard Bauhin 1560–1624) They are brother born in Swiss and wrote the work Pinax Theatri Botanici in 1623. The word Pinax means register, and the work is a listing of 6000 species. The Bauhin brothers included synonymes , which was a great necessity of the time. By this time, species were known with many different names in different books, and Pinax Theatri Botanici made a welcome order in the taxonomic world. The Bauhin brothers recognized genera and species as major taxonomic levels.

19. c) John Ray (1627–1705) He was the English naturalist wrote several important works through his life. His most important contribution was the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy. In 1682 he published Methodus Plantarum Nova, which contained around 18 000 plant species. His complicated classification was based on many combined characters, as opposed to earlier taxonomists.

20. John Ray (1627–1705)

21. d) Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) In France he constructed a botanical classification that came to rule in botanical taxonomy until the time of Carl Linnaeus. In 1700 he published Institutiones Rei Herbariae , in which around 9000 species were listed in 698 genera. He put primary emphasis on the classification of genera, and many genera were accepted by Linnaeus and still in use today. Tournefort's plant classification was exclusively based on floral characters. Tournefort's system was the one used by Linnaeus as a young student, but whereas Tournefort denied the presence of sexuality in plants, Linnaeus on the contrary based his system on that argument.

22. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708)