BIO 201: Botany
INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS BOTANY?
Study of plants

What is a plant??? -
based on a classification system ... which has changed over time

System before 1970
Plant Kingdom – with 4 Divisions
Animal Kingdom with 2 subkingdoms and many phyla

Mid 1970s – three Kingdom system
Kingdom Monera: prokaryotes
Kingdom Plantae: eukaryotes with cell walls
Kingdom Animalia: eukaryotes without cell walls

Mid 1980s – five Kingdom system
Monera (prokaryotic; bacteria)
Protista (eukaryotic, unicellular)
Fungi (eukaryotic, multicellular, cell walls with chitin)
Plantae (eukaryotic, multicellular, cell walls with cellulose)
Animalia (eukaryotic, multicellular, no cell walls)

Current system, 1993 – three domains (see pg. 286 of textbook)
Domain Archaea
      prokaryotic
      unique cell membrane w/o complex lipids,
      cell wall structure w/o peptidoglycan
Domain Bacteria
      prokaryotic
      cell membrane with lipids & proteins,
      cell wall with peptidoglycan
Domain Eucarya
      eukaryotic
      cell membrane with lipids & proteins,
      cell wall, if present of cellulose or chitin
* Kingdom Fungi -- heterotrophic, incomplete separation of cell wall
* Kingdom Protista -- little cell specialization
* Kingdom Plantae -- autotrophic, cell specialization, cell walls of cellulose
      12 divisions
* Kingdom Animalia -- heterotrophic, cell specialization, no cell wall
      many phyla

CLASSIFICATION

Domain
Kingdom
Division (equivalent of Phylum in animals)
     Fungi have -mycota ending
     Plants have -phyta ending
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

When one asks for a species --
Scientific names - referring to both generic and specific names
            Ex.: Quercus phellos for willow oak
            Quercus = generic name
            phellos = specific name
            written in Latin
Common names - in local language

 TAXONOMY VS. SYSTEMATICS

TAXONOMY = the naming of a species
common names (local dialect) and scientific names (Latin) used

SYSTEMATICS = the grouping together of similar species
involves all the classification system above species level
the term grasses, oaks, cats infer systematics
each of these groups have morphological features in common
also they should have a high percentage of identical DNA

Identifying species based on morphology, anatomy, chromosomes, DNA sequences, and metabolism

IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS

Positive:
oxygen /
food (wheat, rice, corn) /
drinks & spices (coffee, cinnamon) /
shelter (pine) /
medicines (taxol) / 
perfumes & cosmetics (ilang-ilang, annatto) /
paper (pine to pulp) /
aesthetic (flowers, shade) /
fuel (alcohol from corn) / 
dyes (indigo) /
fertilizer (natural) /
transportation (boat) /
clothing (cotton)

Negative: 
poisons (poison ivy) /
allergens (ragweed) /
falling trees / thorns & briars (smart weed)
weeds (in garden) /
parasitic (mistletoe) /
illegal drugs (cocaine) /