Each person closely interacts with the world of wildlife and is himself a part of it. And if, in general, the laws of the existence of the living world are studied by biology, then the plant is in the field of botany as its integral part.
Why the science of plants is called botany
Plants were in the sphere of human interests long before the formation of botany as a science, since ancient times. The study of flora was directly related to the issue of survival: plants are food, building materials, material for making clothes, medicine and (which should never be forgotten) dangerous poisons. The accumulated knowledge and observations required systematization. So there was a need to form a science of plants.
In search of an answer to the question why the science of plants is called botany, we need to go back in time, because this teaching is one of the oldest natural sciences in the world. The form of a harmonious system of knowledge of a botanist (the science ofplants) finally acquired during the second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries.
The name of science, like many others, has Greek roots. It comes from the ancient Greek "botane". This word had several meanings, in the meaning of "pasture", "fodder" was used no less often than in the meaning of "plant", "grass". It included everything that could be considered a plant: flowers, mushrooms, algae, trees, mosses and lichens. The word "botany" is derived from "botane", it denoted everything related to plants. Literally, botany is the science of plants. Therefore, wondering why the science of plants is called botany, the answer must be sought in the Greek origins of the systematization of knowledge about the plant world into the form of science.
The birth of botany as a science
Even Aristotle in his great work on animals announced a similar scientific work on plants. It is not known for sure whether it is finished or not. Only some of its fragments have survived to this day. Therefore, Theophrastus, the author of two fundamental works, which became the basis of botany for the next 1500 years, is rightfully considered the founding father of botany as a science. And in the modern world, the value of the knowledge set forth by Theophrastus in his writings is undeniable. This is the answer to the question why the science of plants is called botany. The Greek philosopher could not call it otherwise.
But research in the field of botany is not limited to mere achievementsWestern civilization. China also made a significant contribution, perhaps even an exchange of scientific achievements, given the functioning of the Silk Road.
History of Botany
The science of botany in the modern sense originated in the era of colonialism as a field of study by farmers of herbs and trees common in the region, as well as plants that people brought with them from distant wanderings. But the deep human interest in flora begins its history since the Neolithic. People not only tried to determine the medicinal properties of plants, the growing season, edibility, resistance to low-temperature climate conditions, yield and nutritional properties, but also to preserve this knowledge.
Before the advent of botany as a science, man already studied plants from a scientific point of view. This circumstance explains not only the widespread use by people since ancient times of the medicinal properties of plants grown in the wild. Since the Bronze Age, the practice of growing cultivated plants has been widely used.
A new stage in the development of science - new knowledge
At the end of the 16th century, a microscope was invented, which determined the beginning of a special stage in the development of botany, opened up previously unknown new opportunities in the study of plants, spores and even pollen. Then science stepped even further, opening the veil in matters of reproduction, metabolism, previously closed to humans.
Botany developed in close connection with the development of biology inin general. As a result of scientific research, the entire living world was divided into kingdoms:
- bacteria;
- mushrooms;
- plants;
- animals.
Botany studies the kingdom of bacteria, fungi and plants. The development of botany as a science was of tremendous importance. But in its early days, people de alt with the plants themselves, and most of the botanical gardens that became especially popular in the Western world were devoted to classifying, labeling, and selling seeds. And only centuries later they became the most important research centers.
Plant Kingdom
Plants can be found everywhere: on land (meadows, steppes, fields, forests, mountains), in water (in fresh water, lakes and rivers, in swampy areas, in seas and oceans). Almost all plants are characterized by a motionless lifestyle, the ability to convert solar energy into organic compounds, have rich reserves of chlorophyll, process carbon dioxide into oxygen, for which the plant cover of the planet is called the lungs of the Earth.
Unfortunately, due to various circumstances, many plants are rare or endangered, and this list only grows every year. Many representatives paid for their beauty: people, not thinking about the enormous harm they cause to nature, blasphemously destroy plants for the sake of a one-day bouquet. Such a bitter fate befell forest lilies of the valley, water lilies, sleep-grass.
To protect rare plant species from extinction, they are listed in the Red Book andprotected at the legislative level. Plant science is the basis of knowledge for this document. And now it is our common task - to preserve the flora for future generations, so that both our children and grandchildren can see the unique beauty of the plant world that we were lucky to see.
