Transcript History of Plant Taxonomy - Academic Resources at Missouri Western

History of Plant Taxonomy
Preliterate People
arranged plants by usefulness
food, poisonous, medicinal (artificial)
History of Plant Taxonomy
Preliterate People
arranged plants by usefulness
food, poisonous, medicinal (artificial)
History of Plant Taxonomy
Baked Clay -> Papyrus (Egyptians) ->
Printing Press
History of Plant Taxonomy
Theophrastus - 4thC BC Greek
Plants:
Woody
• trees, shrubs, undershrubs
Herbaceous
Detailed descriptions of many plant features:
sepals, petals, stamen, pistils (superior,
inferior)
Alexander The Great
History of Plant Taxonomy
Dioscordes Roman 1stC AD
Materia Medica
(Not much in terms of major improvements
in botany through Middle Ages - until 13thC.)
History of Plant Taxonomy
Dioscordes Roman 1stC AD
Materia Medica
(Not much in terms of major improvements
in botany through Middle Ages - until 13thC.)
Ancient manuscripts copies in Monasteries
during the Middle Ages.
Errors….no spirit of investigation
History of Plant Taxonomy
Albert Magmus 13thC
University of Paris
Many Topics including Botany
De Vegetabilis 1256 AD
modified Theophrasian system
greater no. of plants
Dicots vs. monocots
vascular vs. nonvascular plants
History of Plant Taxonimy
Movable print (15 thC) made easy the
spread of ancient works and new works.
History of Plant Taxonimy
Movable print (15 thC) made easy the
spread of ancient works and new works.
15thC - 18thC Age of Herbals
artifical systems “Doctrine of Signatures”
natural systems evolved slowly
History of Plant Taxonimy
Movable print (15 thC) made easy the
spread of ancient works and new works.
15thC - 18thC Age of Herbals
artifical systems “Doctrine of Signatures”
natural systems evolved slowly
Tremendous increase in no. of plants
discovered…. 15thC L. Ghini Herbarium
History of Plant Systematics
Index Herbariorum Vol. 106, 1981
1700 of world’s Herbaria
History of Plant Systematics
Index Herbarium Vol. 106, 1981
1700 of world’s Herbaria
Andrea Caesalpino 16thC Italian
Classification system based on morphological
similarities De Plantis Libri (artificial)
History of Plant Systematics
Index Herbariorum Vol. 106, 1981
1700 of world’s Herbaria
Andrea Caesalpino 16thC Italian
Classification system based on morphological
similarities De Plantis Libri (artificial)
Casper Baughin 17thC German
described over 6000 plants
1st to use binomial nomenclature
History of Plant Systematics
John Ray 17thC English
Set out to describe all organisms.
Herbs, Arbores
Monocots, Dicots
Used Polynomials
1800 species (500 new)
“Type Specimen”
Immutability of Species
History of Plant Taxonomy
Carolus Linneaus 18thC
Swedish
binomial nomenclature
Species Plantarum 1753
Artificial (stamen no.)
Defined some natural groups
in later works:
Compositae
Gramineae
Solanaceae
History of Plant Taxonomy
G. Bentham 19thC Eng.
J.D. Hooker 19thC Eng.
History of Plant Taxonomy
Bentham and Hooker
Genera Plantarum 1863
Most complete pre-evolutionary work natural classification.
History of Plant Taxonomy
Bentham and Hooker
Genera Plantarum 1863
Most complete pre-evolutionary work natural classification.
History of Plant Taxonomy
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
- Paper to the Linnaean Society 1858
History of Plant Taxonomy
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
- Paper to the Linnaean Society 1858
Origin of Species 1859 C. Darwin
History of Plant Taxonomy
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
- Paper to the Linnaean Society 1858
Origin of Species 1859 C. Darwin
Species are dynamic and variable population
systems that change through time.
History of Plant Taxonomy
Adolf Engler and Karl Prantl late 19thC German
The Natural Plant Families
most modern plant families described
proposed unisexual flowers primitive
arranged plants primitive ---> advanced
(simple = primitive)
History of Plant Systematics
Charles Bessey 20thC
American
1915 - natural phyletic system
for flowering plants based on
evolution.
Accepted Ranalian Line as
most primitive (Ranucluaceae,
magnoliaceae - Ranales).
Based on dicta used to
separate primitive from
advanced.
History of Plant Taxonomy
Modified Bessian Classification Schemes:
Auther Cronquist 1968 NY Bot. Gardens
Armen Takhtajan 1969 Soviete Union
Robert Thorne 1976 Rancho Santa Anna
Bot. Gardens, California
History of Plant Taxonomy
A. Takhtajan and Auther Cronquist
Kingdom: Plantae
 Division: Bryophyta
 Division: Sphenophyta

 Division: Pterophyta
 Division: Coniferophyta
 Division: Anthophyta
Kingdom: Plantae
 Division: Bryophyta “mosses and liverworts”
 Division: Sphenophyta “horsetails”

 Division: Pterophyta “ferns”
 Division: Coniferophyta “spruces, firs, pines”
 Division: Anthophyta “flowering plants”
Literature of Plant Taxonomy
Records - Library and Herbarium
Publications:
Monograph -
Literature of Plant Taxonomy
Records - Library and Herbarium
Publications:
Monograph - covers a specific group of
plants: family, genera, etc. (Revisions,
Synopses)
Flora -
Literature of Plant Taxonomy
Records - Library and Herbarium
Publications:
Monograph - covers a specific group of
plants: family, genera, etc. (Revisions,
Synopses)
Flora - Treatment of plants in a defined
geographical area. (Local Flora)
Research Reports -decription of new
species or reclassifications. Taxon
journals, indices
Taxonomic “Types”
Type Specimen one representative of the taxon
Holotype specimen designated by the author in the original
publication (nomenclatural type)
Isotype a duplicate specimen of the holotype collected at the
same time and place (may be in other herbarium)
Lectotype a specimen chosen from the author’s original
material when no holotype has been designated.
Taxonomic “Types”
Neotypeselected when all original specimens have been
destroyed