LESSON 3: BOTANY AS A SCIENCE

The lesson is divided into 4 topics:

1. Development of Botanical Study

2. Filipino Botanists and their contributions.
3. Branches of Botany
4. Significance of Botany

Topic 1: Development of Botanical Study

The history of botany goes back to 4th-century B.C.E. Man’s curiosity about plants led to many discoveries in
Botany which shaped our current lives in many ways. At present, various sub-fields of botany have already emerged.
These include plant pathology, plant ecology, paleobotany, and forensic botany.

Botany appears to have had originated as far back as the Stone Age. Early man's interest may have been simply
to learn what different herbs and plants could be used as food. This could be seen as an early and basic form of plant
classification, grouping them as edible and inedible. Written manuals for the use of herbs in medicine existed as far back
as 3000 BC in Mesopotamia and China. While the Egyptians also wrote much on the medicinal uses of plants the study of
botany, the earliest written botanical information that we possess today came from the Greeks.

The term "botany" itself probably came from the Greek words botanikos (botanical) and botane (plant or herb).
The Greek philosopher Aristotle collected information about plants but it was really his student Theophrastus [371-286
B.C.] who inherited his teacher's library and began to devise more complex systems of plant classification. He is
sometimes referred to as the "Father of Botany."

Plants were exchanged and studied in early cultures, but it wasn't until Columbus began his voyages in 1492 that
we have record of the interchange of plants between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Columbus left Spain to
search for new routes and sources for importing spices from the East. He returned from his voyages with corn and other
crop plants including capsicum peppers, orange, lemon, and lime seeds. He also brought products to the countries he
visited. He introduced sugar cane to Santo Domingo and cucumbers and other vegetables from Europe to Haiti. This, in
effect, doubled the food crop resources available to peoples on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1603 Adriaan van de Spiegel (1578-1625) published instructions on producing dried herbarium specimens in
Isagoges in Rem Herbarium. This was a new technique that had come into practice during the previous 50 years. The
collecting, exchange, archiving, and study of pressed, dried plants mounted on sheets of paper engendered a quiet
revolution in taxonomy, floristics, and systematics. This advance was followed rather quickly by Gaspard Bauhin (1560-
1624) who used a clear concept of genus and species in his botanical classification work. In 1623 he published his
concept in the book Pinax Theatri Botanici which later influenced Carolus Linnaeus.

Linnaeus, who is often called the Father of Taxonomy, was one of the first botanists to embrace the practice of
extensive travel for fieldwork. It is reported that between 1745 and 1792 nineteen of Linnaeus's students went of to
distant lands to collect new plant specimens. Half of these students perished. Many died of fever, some were never
heard from again and a few went insane.

Fieldwork took another giant step forward when, in 1768, James Cook set aboard the Endeavor on a scientific
mission. With him were the young naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Charles Solander (a pupil of Linnaeus) as well as
team of artists. In April 1770 the ship arrived in Botany Bay, so named because of the fabulous amount of new plants
collected by Banks and Solander.

In the 19th century botanists began to travel to more and more remote locations. They traveled all over Africa,
Asia, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America in their search of plants, animals, and minerals for
agriculture and for medicine. This increased knowledge has helped us to "master" the living world.
History of Botany – A Timeline

• Theophrastus: Father of Botany

4th Century B.C.E: Both Aristotle and Theophrastus got involved in identifying plants and describing them.
Because of his contributions, Theophrastus was hailed as the “Father of botany” because of his two-surviving
works on plant studies. Although Aristotle also wrote about plants, he received more recognition for his studies
of animals.

• Dioscorides

He wrote De Materia Medica. This work described a thousand medicines, most of which came from
plants. For 1500 years, it remained the guidebook on medicines in the Western world until the invention of the
compound microscope.

• Early 17th century

For a brief period, the search for knowledge in the field of Botany temporarily became stagnant.
However, the revival of learning during the European Renaissance renewed interest in plants.

• 1640 - Johannes van Helmont

measured the uptake of water in a tree.

• 1665 - Robert Hooke

He invented the microscope. Because of this, Robert Hooke had the chance to look closely at what a cell
looks like. His description of these cells was published in Micrographia. However, the cells seen by Hooke showed
no signs of the nucleus and other organelles found in most living cells (Rhoads 2007).

• 1674 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek

He saw a live cell under a microscope. Before his discovery, the existence of single-celled organisms was
unknown and initially met with skepticism.

• 1686 - John Ray

He published his book, Historia Plantarum. This became an important step toward modern taxonomy
(Arber 2010).

• 1694 - Rudolf Camerarius

He established plant sexuality in his book entitled De Sexu Plantarum Epistola. There, he stated that: “No
ovules of plants could ever develop into seeds from the female style and ovary without first being prepared by
the pollen from the stamens, the male sexual organs of the plant “.

• 1727- Stephen Hales

He successfully established plant physiology as a science.

• 1758: Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linne)

The “Father of Taxonomy “, introduced the science of taxonomy which deals with the identification,
nomenclature, description, and classification of organisms (species).

• Later part of the eighteenth century - Joseph Priestley

He laid the foundation for the chemical analysis of plant metabolism.

• Early part of the nineteenth century

 Progress in the study of plant fossils was made.

• 1818
Chlorophyll was discovered.

• 1847
The process of photosynthesis was first elucidated by Mayer. However, the exact and detailed
mechanism remained a mystery until 1862.

• 1859 - Charles Darwin

He proposed his theory of evolution and adaptation, or more commonly referred to as “survival of the
fittest.”

• 1862
The exact mechanism of photosynthesis was discovered when it was observed that starch was formed in
green cells only in the presence of light.

• Early 20th Century

The process of nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and ammonification was discovered.

Topic 2: Filipino Botanists and their contributions.

1. ANACLETO DEL ROSARIO

o was considered the Father of Philippine Science and Laboratory
o tuba - he created the formula of a pure kind of alcohol from tuba of a nipa palm.
o Palma Christi - extracted castor oil from a native plant in the Philippines.

2. EDUARDO A. QUISUMBING
o pioneer in the study of Philippine medicinal plants
o His book Medicinal Plants in Philippines is the forerunner of all research on medicinal plants in the
country.
o author of more than 129 scientific articles published here and abroad.
o recipient of the Distinguished Service Star (1954) for outstanding contribution to the field of systematic
botany

3. LEONARDO L. CO
o botanist and taxonomist
o was collecting seeds from endangered trees in a forested area in Kananga, Leyte, Philippines, when he
and 2 others in his 5-man team were shot and killed.
o set up community-based health systems in poverty-stricken indigenous villages around the country.

4. IGNACIO MERCADO
o first local botanist to record more than 200 medicinal plant’s name and benefits that thrived in the
Philippines.
o Created beautiful artwork using plants and tested the effects of plants to himself.

Topic 3: Branches of Botany

Botany is divided into a number of branches:

• Plant Pathology
It is the study of organisms and environmental conditions that are responsible for causing diseases in plants, the
mechanisms by which the disease occurs, and the methods of controlling plant diseases.
 • Plant Ecology
Plant ecology studies the distribution of plants, how do the environmental factors affect plants and the interaction
between plants and other organisms.

• Paleobotany
This is the branch of botany that deals with the recovery and identification of plant fossils, thereby, studying the
evolutionary history of plants.

• Archaeobotanical
It is the branch of Botany in which the scientists’ study as to how were the plants used by the people in the past.
Understanding a plant also helps in understanding the medicinal and spiritual significances of a plant in the past.

• Forensic Botany
Forensic botany is the use of plants and parts of plants such as pollens, seeds, leaves, etc. to investigate criminal or non-
criminal cases, legal disputes, or questions, to discover the cause of death or former location.

Topic 4: Significance of Botany

Plants are an integral part of human life. They are used in various aspects of day to day lives. Botany studies the
characteristics and uses of these plants and hence are very important.

The importance of Botany can be understood by the following points:

1. Botany deals with the study of different kinds of plants, its uses and characteristics to influence the fields of
science, medicine and cosmetics.
2. Botany is the key to the development of biofuels such as biomass and methane gas that are used as alternatives
to fossil fuels.
3. Botany is important in the area of economic productivity because it is involved in the study of crops and ideal
growing techniques that helps farmers increase crop yield.
4. The study of plants is also important in environment protection. The Botanists list the different types of plants
present on earth and can sense when the plant populations start declining.