What is Botany?

Botany is the study of plants. It is one of the major fields of biology, together
with zoology (the study of animals) and microbiology (the study of bacteria and
viruses). Specializations within the field of botany include the study of
mosses, algae, lichens, ferns, and fungi. Other specialties in botany
include plant physiology, the study of the vital processes of plants, such
as photosynthesis, respiration, and plant nutrition. Biochemists study the effects
of soil, temperature, and light on plants, while plant morphologists study of
the evolution and development of leaves, roots, and stems with a focus on the
tissues at the tips of stems where the cells have the ability to divide.

Plant pathology studies the causes and control of plant diseases. Pathologists
may work with a specific group of plants, such as forest trees, vegetable crops, grain,
or ornamental plants, and they may concentrate on the interactions between host
plants and pathogens, the carriers of disease. Economic botanists study the
economic impact of plants as they relate to human needs for food, clothing, and
shelter, while plant geneticists investigate the structure and behavior of genes in
plants and plant heredity in order to develop crops that are resistant to diseases
and pests. Paleobotany deals with the biology and evolution of plants by studying
the fossil record in order to reconstruct the 600 million year history of plant life on
this planet.

The relationship between plants and animals is one of interdependence.

Without the evolution of plants, animals would not have been able to subsist.
Animals, in turn, contribute to plant distribution, plant pollination, and every other
aspect of plant growth and development. It is through this interdependence that
plants continue to adapt and change. Human intervention in the cultivation of plants
has contributed equally to plant development. Today, the study of botany is only one
aspect of ecology, the study of the environment. Plant ecologists are concerned with
the effects of the environment on plants.

Aristotle and Theophrastus, living in ancient Greece about the fourth

century B.C., were both involved in identifying plants and describing them.
Theophrastus is called the "father of botany," because of his two surviving works on
plant studies. While Aristotle also wrote about plants, he received more recognition
for his studies of animals.

The early study of plants was not limited to Western cultures. The Chinese
developed the study of botany along lines similar to the ancient Greeks at about the
same time. In A.D. 60, another Greek, Dioscorides, wrote De Materia Medica, a work
that described a thousand medicines, 60% of which came from plants. It remained
the guidebook on medicines in the Western world for 1,500 years until the
compound microscope was invented in the late sixteenth century, opening the way
to the careful study of plant anatomy.
 During the seventeenth century progress was made in experimenting with
plants. Johannes van Helmont measured the uptake of water in a tree during the
1640s, and in 1727 Stephen Hales, an Englishman who is credited with establishing
plant physiology as a science, published his experiments dealing with the nutrition
and respiration of plants in a work entitled Vegetable Staticks. He developed
techniques to measure area, volume, mass, pressure, gravity, and temperature in
plants. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Joseph Priestley laid the
foundation for the chemical analysis of plant metabolism.

During the nineteenth century advances were made in the study of plant
diseases because of the potato blight that killed potato crops in Ireland in the 1840s,
an event that led to a mass migration of Irish to America. The study of plant diseases
developed rapidly after this event. When the work in genetics by Gregor Mendel, an
Austrian monk, was applied after 1900 to plant breeding, the development of
modern plant genetics began. During the early part of the nineteenth century,
progress in the study of plant fossils was made, and ecology began to develop as a
science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Technology has helped specialists in botany to see and understand the three-
dimensional nature of cells, and genetic engineering of plants has improved
agricultural output. The study of plants continues as botanists try to both understand
the structure, behavior, and cellular activities of plants in order to develop better
crops, find new medicines, and explore ways of maintaining an ecological balance
on Earth to continue to sustain both plant and animal life.

History of Botany

Aristotle and Theophrastus, living in ancient Greece about the fourth century B.C.,
were both involved in identifying plants and describing them. Theophrastus is called
the "father of botany," because of his two surviving works on plant studies. While
Aristotle also wrote about plants, he received more recognition for his studies of
animals.

The early study of plants was not limited to Western cultures. The Chinese
developed the study of botany along lines similar to the ancient Greeks at about the
same time. In A.D. 60, another Greek, Dioscorides, wrote De Materia Medica, a work
that described a thousand medicines, 60% of which came from plants. It remained
the guidebook on medicines in the Western world for 1,500 years until the
compound microscope was invented in the late sixteenth century, opening the way
to the careful study of plant anatomy.

During the seventeenth century progress was made in experimenting with

plants. Johannes van Helmont measured the uptake of water in a tree during the
1640s, and in 1727 Stephen Hales, an Englishman who is credited with establishing
plant physiology as a science, published his experiments dealing with the nutrition
and respiration of plants in a work entitled Vegetable Staticks. He developed
techniques to measure area, volume, mass, pressure, gravity, and temperature in
plants. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Joseph Priestley laid the
foundation for the chemical analysis of plant metabolism.

During the nineteenth century advances were made in the study of plant
diseases because of the potato blight that killed potato crops in Ireland in the 1840s,
an event that led to a mass migration of Irish to America. The study of plant diseases
developed rapidly after this event. When the work in genetics by Gregor Mendel, an
Austrian monk, was applied after 1900 to plant breeding, the development of
modern plant genetics began. During the early part of the nineteenth century,
progress in the study of plant fossils was made, and ecology began to develop as a
science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Technology has helped specialists in botany to see and understand the three-
dimensional nature of cells, and genetic engineering of plants has improved
agricultural output. The study of plants continues as botanists try to both understand
the structure, behavior, and cellular activities of plants in order to develop better
crops, find new medicines, and explore ways of maintaining an ecological balance
on Earth to continue to sustain both plant and animal life.

Agriculture and Herbalism - our ancestores used trial and error to know which
plant is useful for nutritional and medicinal purpose
Botany/ Phytology - involves the morphological of plant species and their
classifications which is taxonomy.

CELLS
Plants are fundamentally composed of cells.
Origin and Pioneers of Botany

Origin of Botany

Neolitic Revolution- when hunter and gatherer communities began to domesticate

plants.
Ebers Papyrus - oldest medical text
Quenn Nefertite - used aloe vera for her beauty routine.

Father of Botany

Theophrastus- studied together with Aristotle. For his works on plants, he was
considered as the father of botany. His books include enquiry into plants and on the
causes of plants. He describe medicinal and aromatic herbs.Some of the plants also
came from Asia following Alexander the Great and his conquest ( e.g. cinnamon)

Structure and Types of Cells

Plants are made of cells. They are multicellular eukaryotes. Eukaryotic cells have a
vaariety of organelles. Chloroplast, vacuole and cell wall all of which are structures
absent in animal cells. Chloroplast is the site for photosynthesis. The products are
metabolized in mitochondria.

Animals convert the chemical energy in food into other useful forms of chemical
energy. Plants convert solar energy from the sun directly into usable forms of
chemical energy.

In vascular plants and green algae, the thylakoids are stacked on top of one
another, and a stack of thylakoids is called a granum (plural: grana). The thylakoids
contain chlorophylls and carotenoids, and these pigments absorb light during the
process of photosynthesis. Light-absorbing pigments are grouped with other
molecules such as proteins to form complexes known as photosystems. The two
different kinds of photosystems are photosystems I and II, and they have roles in
different parts of the light-dependent reactions.

In the stroma, enzymes make complex organic molecules that are used to store
energy, such as carbohydrates. The stroma also contains its own DNA and ribosomes
that are similar to those found in photosynthetic bacteria. For this reason,
chloroplasts are thought to have evolved in eukaryotic cells from free-living bacteria,
just as mitochondria did.

TYPES OF PLANT CELLS

Meristematic cells - the cells that plants use to grow.They are undifferentiated. They
do not get used up like stem cells.These cells can continue to divide and elongate the
plant indefinitely.

Parenchyma cells - they do most of the work for the plants.They perform most of
the photosynthesis, offer energy and nutrient storage and perform nutrient
transport.
Collenchyma cells - they are the back-up system for the plants.They perform some
photosynthesis, offer nutrient storage and provide flexible structure for plants.

Sclerenchyma cells - they are dead cells in areas no longer growing. They provide
woody tissue in stem and trunk. Sclerenchyma cell wall contains cellulose and lignin
that are difficult to breakdown.

PLANT TISSUES

Plants are composed of stems, roots and leaves. Plant tissues are characterized
according to their structure and functions.

Plant tissues: Meristematic Tissue and Permanent Tissue

Meristematic Tissue - help in the growth of a plant as they have the ability to divide
themselves. They are generally small and close within the thin wall.

Classifications of Meristematic Tissues

1. Apical - the tissue that helps increase the length of the stem and the root. It is
located at the tip of stems and roots
2. Lateral - this tissue helps in increasing the diameter of the plant body. This is
located at the stem and the rode.
3. Intercalary - this facilitates the growth of the leaves and branches. It is located at
the base of the nodes.

Permanent Tissue - They are derived from meristematic tissues and facilitate
transport, preparation, help in transport, preparation of food and provide support to
plants.

Classifications of Permanent Tissues

1. Simple Permanent Tissue - it is composed of simple types of cell.
 Parenchyma - are oval shaped cells with thin cell walls and have extensive
spaces between the cells. They aid in photosynthesis, storage and also help
aquatic plants to float. They are composed of living cells found in stems, roots,
leaves and flowers.

 Collenchyma - are composed of living elongated cells. They provide elasticity,

mechanical support and tensile strength to the plant body. They are found
mainly in the cortex of stems and leaves.

 Sclerenchyma - are dead cells having extremely thick cell walls containing lignin.
They protect the plants. This tissue is present in stems, leaves and in the hard
covering of seeds and nuts.
Complex Permanent Tissue

 Xylem - a complex tissue consisting of tracheids, vessels, xylem parenchyma and

xylem fibers. It transports water and minerals as raw materials from roots to the
other plant parts.

 Phloem - consist of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem fibre and phloem
parenchyma which transports prepared food from leaves to other parts of the
plant.

TYPES OF PLANT TISSUES

1. Ground tissue - makes up the majority of a plant’s body. This is the most
common tissue in plant. It appears in a variety of locations and does many jobs.

Three types:

 Parenchyma - responsible for the photosynthetic layer in leaves. This is

prevalent throughout a plant that it also takes on the role of growing to cover
wounds.

 Collenchyma - used for structural support

 Sclerenchyma - used for structural support

2. Dermal Tissue - outmost layer of the plant and acts as the skin for the plant.
Epidermis is a plant’s skin and it’s a layer of cells one one cell thick. Most of
these cells don’t have chloroplasts or other specialized organelles. They are
primarily there just to serve as a protective layer to shield the more important
tissues beneath.
Cuticle - this is a waxy substance that prevents water from escaping and protect
from invasion by many pathogens.

Triochomes - hairlike structure for gas and nutrient transfer.

Stomata - this will often remain closed until the sun goes down.

Periderm - a thicker layer of dead cells. The periderm produces and is protected by
the rhytidome. - dead cells

Bark- outermost tissues of the plant

3. Vascular Tissues- redistributes water and nutrients throughout a plant’s body

allowing for tress to grow tall without losing the capacity for nutrient transport
between distantly- separated parts.
Two types:

 Xylem - a vascular tissue made of dead cells called tracheids and vessel
elements. These are both elongated cells whose walls are strengthened with
lignin, the substance that makes woody plants so stiff and strong. Xylem is the
vascular tissue responsible for transporting water and mineral nutrients upward.

Kinds of transport tubes:

1. Tracheids - smaller
2. Vessel element - also called as xylem conduit These are 0.1 mm.

Water is transported in passive manner by potential gradients. The negative

pressure draws the water up the xylem : evaporation. This process is known as the
cohesion- tension mechanism. The water is initially pulled up through capillary
action.

As water evaporates from the leaves it draws the water column upwards
against gravity causing tension. This process which is responsible for the tension part
of the CT mechanism is known as transpiration. - occurs when water evaporates
from plant’s leaves into the air.

Soil plant atmosphere continuum - continuous water transportation

 Phloem - responsible for transporting the sugars produced through
photosynthesis in the leaves to all of the other parts of the plant

Types:

 Companion cells - regulate the function of the phloem

 Sieve cells - execute this function, connected to sieve plates which are
membranes with pores through which the sugar solution can pass. The
movement of this sugary sap is caused by positive hydrostatic pressure. This
process is called translocation.

Storage of sugar : roots and fruits