plants and people 1

7/31/2019 Plants and People 1

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FLOWERING PLANTS AND CIVILIZATION Part 1


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Components for Plants and Civilization

Horticulture is the science or art of cultivating fruits,

vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants

Genetics is the branch of biology that deals with heredity,

especially the mechanisms of hereditary transmission

and the variation of inherited characteristics amongsimilar or related organisms

Taxonomy is the classification and naming of organisms in

an ordered system that indicates natural relationships

Ethnobotany is the study of how plants are used in various

cultures, particularly in the developing world (people in

the industrial world mostly by their plant products

rather than glowing or gathering them)


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Plants are the basis of nearly all food and other materials

(other than minerals) used in the modern world

Originally ancient cultures simply gathered plant material from

the wild and used in as early cultures developed as

hunter-gatherers

As the plant an animal resources became depleted by increasing

population, cultures began to settle down and grow many of

the plants they needed, i.e., to become farmersAncient farmers selected seeds or vegetative propagules from the

more fruitful or better adapted individuals, which slowly lead

to better yields

After thousands of years of purposeful (rather than natural)selection, the cultivated plants differed appreciably from their

wild relatives

Plant geographers now recognize six world regions where

domestication of crops is believed to have taken place


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Six Regions of Crop Domestication

Near EastRegionwheat, barley, peas, asparagus, beets,

carrots, turnips, olives, cherries, plums, apples, pears, onions,garlic, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce parsley, opium poppy

Chinese regionpeach, litchi, ginger, tea, soybean, and cucumber

Africayams, okra, sweet melons, coffee

South Asia and Oceaniarice, taro, breadfruit, banana, coconut,sugar cane, mango, citrus, nutmeg, turmeric, pepper, and

eggplant

North AmericaSunflower and tobacco

South and Central Americacorn, peanut, potato, cassava,

beans, cashew, pineapple, papaya, avocado, chili pepper,

tomato, cotton, cacao, guava, sweet potato, pumpkin, squash,

rubber, and vanilla


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Plants organized into families based on evolutionary relationships

Over 300 families of angiosperms are recognized

Names & circumscription are changing with new DNA evidence,

that separates homologous from analogous characters

All angiosperm families have their family name ending inceae,Orders inales, but are not commonly used

Families can be recognized on the basis of chemical, genetic, and

morphological similarity

Some related families produce organic compounds that can beused to distinguish them from other families


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Easiest way to determine plant families are morphological

Flowers are the most important part of species identification

Androeciumnumber and condition (free or fused) of stamens

*Malvaceae has monadelphous stamens

*Fabaceae (Papillionoideae) has diadelphous stamens

*Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) has six stamens with four petals

*Melastomaceae often has geniculate stamens


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Gynoeciumposition of ovary, number of carpels, number of

seeds, number of locules, and placentation are important

*Apocarpous ovaries belong to primitive families

*Free central placentation characteristic of the Caryophyllales*Parietal placentation is uncommon, but is found in papaya

and passion fruit

Counting seeds and locules can eliminate many families

Distinctive characters, such as the gynophore in CapparaceaeWhether the ovary is inferior or superior is important


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The number of petals and if they are fused together or not are

important diagnostic characters

Many petals are found in primitive families, 4 or 5 in

advanced familiesFree petals are more often found in primitive families, fused

petals more often in advanced families

Whether a corolla is actinomorphic or zygomorphic is important

Many Ranunculaceae corollas have spurs for storing nectar


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Leaves less commonly used to recognized families and species,

but some are useful

Opposite vs. alternate, and compound vs. simple are diagnostic,

since some families have only alternate, some only opposite,

and some only simple and others only compound

Sap is often important, especially if it is milky (latex)

Only 20 families have milky sap, some partially, some entirely


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Plant Families Most Important for Plant Domestication

Monocots

Poaceae Cyperaceae Araceae

Arecaceae Liliaceae Zingiberaceae

Orchidaceae

Dicots

Rosaceae Fabaceae Euphorbiaceae

Malvaceae Apiaceae Cucurbitaceae

Solanaceae Convolvulaceae Apocynaceae

Verbenaceae Lamiaceae Acanthaceae

Rubiaceae Asteraceae


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Poaceae (a.k.a., Gramineae, Grass Family)

Comprises 9,000 to 10,000 species of grasses found throughout

the tropics and even up into the tundra

They form the dominant part of the grassland biome, which

covers perhaps 20% of the earths surface

Perhaps 32 indigenous species in Fiji, and up to 100 weedy grasses


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The stems are round and often hollow, unlike sedges that

typically have solid, 3-angled stems

Flowers are arranged in spikelets bearing overlapping bracts

They are wind pollinated and lack colorful petals (apetalous)

The fruit is a caryopsis, a one-seeded indehiscent fruit with

the seed fused to the ovary wall


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They provide the majority of the food eaten by humans,

directly with cereal crops, and indirectly by forage for cattle

and other domesticated animals eaten by humans

Food crops include wheat, corn (maize), barley, oats, rye, and

sugar cane, as well as the very useful bamboo

Jobs tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) seeds (fruits actually) are used

to make Polynesian and Melanesian necklaces


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Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)

Comprises about 4000 species of sedges found throughout the

world, mostly in the tropics but many species also in the tundraDistinguished from grasses by solid, usually 3-angled stems

(sedges have edges)

Most tend to be associated with wet and/or poor soil (they

sometimes dominate marshes)

About 24 species native to Fiji, and nearly as many weeds


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Mostly lanceolate leaves borne on a closed sheath, and

often with leaf-like bracts below the inflorescence

Green, apetalous flowers are surrounded by bracts and

arranged in spikelets

Florets are mostly wind pollinated with a superior ovary

bearing 2 or 3 stigma lobes

Fruit is a caryopsis containing a single, usually 3-angled seed


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Economic species include water

chestnut,kutu (Eleocharis dulcis),

and papyrus (Cyperus papyriferus)Papyrus used by the ancient Egyptians

to make paper

Kutu used by Fijians and western

Polynesians to makekuta mats


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Araceae (Arum Family)

Comprises about 3,700 herbaceous species of plants known as

aroids, mostly herbs but some of them vines (trunk

climbers)

Found mostly in the tropics, but many also temperate

Many are cultivated for food and as ornamentals


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Stemless herbs with large, alternate leaves, and often forming

large tubers or corms

Commonly having oxalate crystals and milky sap

Flowers usually tiny, apetalous, and unisexual, arranged on a

fleshy spike called a spadix, which is usually surrounded by a

sheath called spathe


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Many species of aroids are cultivated as ornamentals, some

for their foliage, some for their showy spathes


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Some native species are vines, including the two native species

found in Fiji,Epipremnum pinnatum (shown here) and

Rhapidophora spuria

In Tonga, the roots of the former species are used to make

baskets called katoalu

One species, water cabbage, is a weed in Fiji

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Araceae (a.k.a. Palmae, Palm Family)

Comprises about 2,600 to 3,000 species of woody monocots

found in the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate areas of

the world

A few, such as rattans, grow as vines

Only about 130 palms found outside the tropics, and farthest

north and south are found at 44 N and 44 S

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All easily recognized by large, evergreen compound leaves,

either pinnate or palmate, on top of the woody stemFlowers either unisexual or bisexual, and usually arranged

in dense panicles

Tepals 6, often both whorls petaloid, and 6 stamens

Ovary 3-celled, superior, and usually forming a drupe fruit

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The largest seed (up to 30 kg) in the world belongs the coco de

mer of Mauritius, and the largest leaves (25 m) to another

palm (Raphia sp.)

There are about 22 native species of palms in Fiji

Numerous palms used as ornamentals

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Important economic products include the following:

Dates from date palms (Phoenix dactylifera), which are growncommercially in deserts (and in cities as an ornamental)

Coconuts (Cocos nucifera) for their edible seed, and many other

coconut products made from all parts of the palm

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Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) for cooking oil is a major crop

being grown in the tropics, and is a major cause of

displacement of tropical rainforest

Palm hearts (Euterpe spp.) from the stem tips of several species

of this genus; they are used in salads and cooking

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Sago starch is obtained from the trunk

of a felled sago palm (Metroxylon saguand other species)

Rattans (various species), which are

climbing palms, are used for furniture

and basketry

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Betel nut (Areca catechu) as a stimulating drug

Widespread in Indo-Malaya, SE Asia, and Micronesia

Betel nut is powdered with crushed limestone and wrapped in

the leaf of aPiper sp. before it is chewed

It gives that wonderful betel nut smile

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Liliaceae (Lily Family)

Comprises about 4,000 species of herbaceous species, many

growing from bulbs or rhizomes, mostly in temperate areas

A catch-all family with many species originally included thathave now been put into different families

Most important commercial use is as ornamentals, with

numerous species being in the ornamental plant trade

Many are poisonous, but some, e.g., garlic and onion, are edible

Often combined with Amaryllidaceae

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Leaves alternate or less often opposite or whorled

Flowers often showy and nearly always bisexual and actinomorphic

Perianth typically consists of two whorls of 6 undifferentiated or

weakly differentiated petaloid tepals

Androecium usually consists of 6 fertile stamens

Gynoecium typically consists of a single 3-carpellate pistil of 3

Fruit is nearly always a capsule or berry

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Two species of lilies are native to Fiji

Collospermum montanum, which is an epiphyte common in

montane areas

Dianella intermedia, which is a terrestrial herb

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Zingiberaceae (Ginger Family)

Comprises about 1000 herbaceous species with creeping or

horizontal rhizomes, found mostly in the tropics.

The spiral gingers are sometimes put into the family CostaceaeMain commercial use as ornamentals, but a few are used in

cooking (turmeric and ginger)

Six species of ginger are native in Fiji

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Leaves alternate and distichous with a sheathing base

Flowers bisexual, strongly zygomorphic, often borne in a spike or

raceme with conspicuous floral bracts

Perianth a 3-lobed or spathaceous tubular calyx and a petaloidtubular corolla with 3 lobes

Androecium of a single fertile stamen, with a large petaloid

labellum representing 2 connate staminodes

Gynoecium of a single compound pistil of 3 carpels

Fruit a capsule or berry-like

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Orchidaceae (Orchid Family)

The largest family of angiosperms, over 25,000 described species

found mostly in the tropics, but also into temperate regions

Very specialized methods of pollination, often with only onepollinator

Important epiphytes in tropical rainforests, and thousands of

species used in hybridization for making new cultivars

Fiji has 164 native species, Samoa 100, but Hawaii has only 3

Vanilla is an orchid with a use other than as an ornamental

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Most native species are epiphytes, but many are terrestrial

Leaves alternate, parallel veined (as most monocots)

Zygomorphic flowers with one petal called the labellum that ismodified into a landing platform

Stamens and pistil fused together to form a column

Pollen in a two packets called pollinia that are carried intact

by insects during pollination

Capsule contains thousands of tiny seeds


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Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Comprises about 3,000 to 4,000 species

Leaves are always alternate, usually simple but sometimes

compound, often with toothed margins

Stamens usually many, petals free and sometimes many

The ovary is often half-inferior (perigynous)

The family is very small in Oceania, with only one species

native to Fiji (Rubus moluccanus)

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It comprises many edible fruits, such as strawberries,

blackberries, pears, apples, plum, peaches, cherries, apricots,

and almonds

Also many important ornamentals, particularly roses, of

which hundreds of cultivars have been named

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Fabaceae (Pea Family)

The third largest family of angiosperms with ca. 13,000 species

Formerly called Leguminosae

Sometimes divided into three families, but more often subfamilies

MimosoideaeUsually with conspicuous stamens and small petals

CaesalpinoideaeUsually with 5 or 10 stamens and 5 showy petals

Papillionoideaewith butterfly flowers and diadelphous stamens

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They comprise trees, herbs, shrubs, and vines

Alternate leaves, and these may be simple, pinnately compound,

or trifoliate (3-leaflets)

The butterfly flower is the most diagnostic characteristic (of

the subfamily Papillionoideae)

Nearly all of them have a legume fruit

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The comprise numerous ornamental, native, weedy, and

commercial crop species

Important food crops include peas, beans (kidney, lima, string,

winged, etc.), peanuts, lentils

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Also fodder plants, such as mesquite and alfalfa,

since they are high in nitrates (root nodules!)

Many important timber species, including vesi

Also some chemicals, such as fish poisons (derris)

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Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family)

Comprises about 4,000 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees

found throughout the world, but mostly tropicalMany species are used as ornamentals, particularly succulent

spurges found in Asia and Africa

Many species, particularly the genusEuphorbia, have milky sap,

which can serve to distinguish the succulent ones from cacti

About 66 species in 21 genera are native to Fiji


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The most economically important species are rubber (Heveabrasiliensis ), castor bean (Ricinus communis), and cassava

(Manihot esculenta)

Some species are poisonous (e.g., castor bean with deadly ricin)

Includes numerous weedy species and ornamentals

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Malvaceae (Mallow Family)

Comprises about 1500 species of the tropics to temperate areas

Trees, shrubs, and herbs, with four native species in Fiji

Includes many ornamental species, including several species and

numerous, variously colored cultivars of hibiscus, one of which

is an ancient introduction to Fiji

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Usually have stellate hairs and mucilaginous sap

Leaves always alternate, simple, often palmately veined and/or

lobedFlowers have five free petals, often colorful and conspicuous

Gynoecium with a superior, several celled ovary

Stamens usually united (monadelphous)

Fruit usually a several-celled capsule or schizocarp

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The family includes four native species, three of them widespreadtreesmilo (mulomulo), beach hibiscus (vau), and native cotton

It also includes species of weeds, a few of them of ancient

introduction to Fiji


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