- Author: Dustin Blakey
We often think of plants in much the same way we think of rocks: dumb things that don't move. Okay, plants do grow, but we tend to consider them as a static part of the environment. I think that is in part due to their alien nature that we don't form a natural affection for plants in the way we do with dogs or koalas. Other than some shared biochemistry, plants are very different than animals.
Or are they?
We've known for a long time that plants can respond to direct stimuli, have circadian rhythms, and can respond to cues from their neighbors—chemical warnings of pest interactions on neighboring plants, for example.
A recent study in Australia has shown that plants, at least garden peas, can also learn by association. As reported by the researchers, pea seedlings learned that a gentle breeze was associated with light coming from a particular direction. The plants would only learn, however, when the training stimulus happened during times that the plant perceived as "day". In other words, when it was "awake." Or whatever passes as being awake for plants.
This doesn't mean plants will be learning their ABCs anytime soon, but it does have some interesting implications for evolutionary biology. I'm interested to see if other plant species respond similarly.
You can read the paper online here: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep38427?WT.mc_id=FBK_SREP_1612_PLANTLEARNING_OA
Gagliano, M. et al. Learning by Association in Plants. Sci. Rep. 6, 38427; doi: 10.1038/srep38427 (2016).
- Author: Harold McDonald
Part three of a series on scientific names of plants: Learning Names
Last time we talked about the value of scientific naming in reducing ambiguity and gaining some insight into a plant's characteristics. Like any new language, the best way to learn is to start using it in daily life.
Scientific naming is generally credited to the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus with the publication of Systema Naturae in 1735. Binomial nomenclature gives each organism is given a two-word name, the first the genus (which is always capitalized), the second the species name (which is never capitalized, even when derived from a proper name).
Though scientific names are sometimes called Latin names, the names can be drawn from many sources, including Greek and other languages, names of people and places, and sometimes even anagrams—the flowering plant species Muilla is an anagram of the onion genus Allium! Quite often though, the species name can be descriptive. A few of California's many paintbrush species illustrate some of these sources.
- Castilleja angustifolia a paintbrush with narrow leaves
- Castilleja chromosa a very colorful paintbrush
- Castilleja densiflorus a paintbrush with very dense flowers
- Castilleja gleasoni from Mt. Gleason, in L.A. County
- Castilleja lemmoni named for botanist J. G. Lemmon
Next time: start learning the scientific names of plants
- Author: Harold McDonald
Binomial nomenclature is the system of identifying organisms by their Genus species names. The full system of scientific classification, however, involves many broader levels of classification. From the broadest classification, kingdom, you move down through the progressively more restrictive classifications of phylum*, class, order, family, genus and species. A common mnemonic for learning the levels is Kings Play Chess On Fine Grained Sand. A few secondary ranks exist in the plant kingdom, but for most purposes this is good enough.
I think the best way to start learning scientific names is to go up one level from the binomial names, to the families. While there are a lot of families (more than 600!), a small number account for nearly all our common plants. Just two families, the Asteraceae (aster or daisy family) and Fabaceae (pea or legume family) account for more than 42,000 species, and nearly everyone knows what daisies and pea flowers look like. Once you've learned the characteristics of some of the common families—numbers of floral parts, type of symmetry, leaf types, fruit types—it becomes fairly easy for you to identify unfamiliar plants to the family level. Here is a great PDF you can download that illustrates 50 of the most common families. Each family has a gorgeously illustrated page listing the major characteristics of each family, along with prominent plants in each one. (For some reason, if the link won't work type “sdsu 50 plant families” into Google and click on the top hit.)
Fifty is really too many families to try to learn, but if you use that PDF in conjunction with the following link from the website Learn Plants Now, you'll be well on your way to learning about the five biggest families, which account for nearly 60,000 species. By the way, you'll notice there are often two versions of family names given—eg Asteraceae and Compositae for the sunflower family. The ones that end in –aceae are the recognized “modern” names, while the ones that end in –ae are the older ones. Most times you'll see both given, but you might as well learn the new ones.
If you prefer a book, Botany in a Day, by Thomas Elpel is a great choice. The Mono Lake Committee in Lee Vining generally has it in stock.
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* Ed. note: With plants and fungi we usually use "division" instead of phylum. Same meaning, but useful in adding unnecessary confusion. Never was explained to me why we do this. I assume it's tradition. Since 1993 it's been OK to use either. I can't remember the last time I even thought about a plant's division. Family level is more useful.