Botany

:For other meanings, see Botany (disambiguation)

History

Early botany (before 1945)

Among the earliest of botanical works, written around 300 BC, are two large treatises by Theophrastus: On the History of Plants (Historia Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants. Together these books constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and on into the Middle Ages. The Roman medical writer, Dioscorides, provides important evidence on Greek and Roman knowledge of officinal plants.

Related Topics:
300 BC - Theophrastus - Historia Plantarum - Dioscorides

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In 1665, using an early microscope, Robert Hooke discovered cells in cork; a short time later in living plant tissue. The German Leonhart Fuchs, the Swiss Conrad von Gesner, and the British authors Nicholas Culpeper and John Gerard, published herbals that gave information on the officinal uses of plants.

Related Topics:
Robert Hooke - Cells - Cork - Leonhart Fuchs - Conrad von Gesner - Nicholas Culpeper - John Gerard

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Modern botany (since 1945)

A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This mustard weed was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. Other more commercially important plants like rice, wheat, maize and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced, although some of these are more challenging because they have more than two haploid (n) sets of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy. The "Green Yeast" Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a single-celled, green alga) is another plant model organism that has been extensively studied and provided important insights into cell biology.

Related Topics:
Model plants - Arabidopsis thaliana - Genome - Rice - Wheat - Maize - Soybean - Haploid - Chromosome - Polyploidy - Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - Alga

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