What
is botany?
Botany is the scientific study of
plants. Here, we will also study how plants function, what they look like, and
how they are related to each other. The word botany is derived from the Greek
word “botanikos” meaning “herbs”. Plants are also an essential component of all
ecosystems. And botany also contributes significantly to the basic
understanding of essential processes that affect ecosystems and environments.
Plants are essential to the life of humans and provide all food either directly
or indirectly as well as breathable oxygen.
Botanist
We know a person who takes full
command of botany as a botanist. Botanists also know all about plants and their
function.
We consider botany being one of the
oldest sciences. Also, it began with the efforts of early humans to identify
edible, poisonous, and medicinal plants. Botany covers algae, fungi, and plants.
- How do plants function?
- Where do they grow?
- How do people make use of plants?
- How did plants evolve?
The word “plant” encompasses a wide
range of living organisms. And all of which belong to the kingdom, Plantae
that:
Produce food from sunlight and
inorganic matter through the process of photosynthesis.
We relate the term botany to the
plant, so there are some characteristics of plants that are listed below.
Characteristics
of plants
- Eukaryotic
(true nucleus) organism.
- Plants also cannot move on their own, mostly being
rooted in one place.
- They are autotrophic.
- The cells of plants also contain cell walls composed
mainly of cellulose.
- Their cell also contains chlorophyll, which enables the
plants to convert energy from the sun into food.
- Their cells usually have also a large vacuole.
- Plants also store their food as starch.
Parts
of plants
There are two types of parts in
plants:
- Internal parts
- External parts
Internal
parts
- Cells: the basic structure and physiological unit of
plants.
- Tissue: organize a group of similar cells that work together
to perform a specific function.
External
parts
The external parts of the plants
comprise
- Roots
of plants are typically originated from the lower portion of the plant,
responsible for anchoring the plant to the ground and extracting water and
minerals from the soil.
- Stem: the
stem of the plant gives support to the plant.
- Leaves:
the main function of the leave is to absorb sunlight needed by the plant
for photosynthesis.
- Flowers:
the flower handles the process of reproduction.
- Fruits:
the fruit of the plant comprises fertilized, mature ovules (seeds), with
the ovary wall.
- Seeds:
contain all the genetic information needed to develop an entire plant.
Plants
cells
Like all other organisms, plants are
also made up of cells, but we found different cells in the plants.
Eukaryotic cells in plants are also
like animal cells.
As a plant matures, its cells become
specialized. We give several important specialized types of plant cells below.
- Parenchyma cells
- Collenchyma cells
- Sclerenchyma cells
- Sieve tube members
Now we classify these cells
- Parenchyma cells: these cells are not very specialized
in function. These cells synthesize and store organic products in plants.
Most plant metabolism takes in these cells.
- Collenchyma cells: these cells have a support function
n in plants, particularly in young plants. These cells help to support
plants while not restraining growth because of their lack of secondary
walls and the absence of hardening agents in their primary walls.
- Sclerenchyma cells: these cells also have a support
function in plants but unlike collenchyma cells, they have a hardening
agent and are much more rigid.
- Sieve tube member: these cells conduct organic
nutrients such as sugar through the plant.
Structure of plant cell: when you
compare a plant cell with an animal cell, you find them to be closely similar
except that the animal cell lacks chloroplast and cell walls a plant cell
ranges from 10 to 100 micrometers in size. Each cell contains the following
organelles:
- Nucleus
- Nuclear membrane
- Cytoplasm
- Cell wall
- Cell membrane
- Plastids
- Mitochondria
- Ribosome
- Endoplasmic reticulum
- Golgi apparatus
- Vacuoles
Advantages
of plants in our daily life
There are an uncounted number of
advantages of plants in our daily life. We list some of them below.
- Plants get carbon from the outer environment and, as a
result, they give oxygen to the environment on one side. Plants save the
environment from an excess of carbon and they give oxygen, which is the
need of every human and animal.
- Plants also play a key role in the weather condition of
an area.
- Plants decrease the level of different diseases.
- Plants are the beauty of nature.
- Plants give recreation to humans.
- We also used plants as food.
- We also used plants for shelter.
- Plants are also important for the economy of a country.
- We used plants also as fuel.
- We used plants also in landscaping.
- We used plants in houses for furniture.
- Plants also provide habitats to different organisms.
- Plants get different minerals from the soil that are
harmful to human beings.
- Plants decrease the chance of different natural
disasters like floods, soil erosion, etc.
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