After learning about some of the scientific names of the local plants in Auroville, I wanted to learn more about the botanical classification system and taxonomy. I feel that once you know a little, it goes along way and the knwldege can open up a while new way of seeing the forest - the similarities between species, easier identification ect. Also learning such cool sounding words like "Borassus Flabellifer" will give you an endless source of awesome baby names, band names or new insults. Here's what I researched:
What is Taxonomy?
The word originates from Ancient Greek: taxis meaning (“arrangement”) and nomos meaning (“law”). Taxonomy is the science of naming and classifying groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. The classification of organisms has various hierarchical categories. Categories gradually shift from being very broad and including many different organisms to very specific and identifying single species. There are eight distinct taxonomic categories. Animals and other organisms are classified within a succession of nested categories that ranges from the general to the particular. These are: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Each level of the hierarchy is called the taxonomic category or rank.
Domain
A domain is the highest (most general) rank of organisms. Linnaeus did invent some of the taxonomic ranks, but he did not invent the domain rank, which is relatively new. The term domain wasn’t used until 1990, over 250 years after Linnaeus developed his classification system in 1735. The three domains of life are Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukaryota.
Kingdom
The kingdom is the highest level of classification, which is divided into subgroups at various levels. There are 5 kingdoms in which the living organisms are classified, namely, Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera.
Phylum
This is the next level of classification and is more specific than the kingdom. There are 35 phyla in kingdom Animalia. For Example – Porifera, Chordata, Arthropoda, etc.
Class
Class was the most general rank in the taxonomic hierarchy until phyla were not introduced. Kingdom Animalia includes 108 classes including class mammalia, reptilia, aves, etc. However, the classes used today are different from those proposed by Linnaeus and are not used frequently.
Order
Order is a more specific rank than class. The order constitutes one or more than one similar families. There are around 26 orders in class mammalia such as primates, carnivora, etc.
Family
This category of taxonomic hierarchy includes various genera that share a few similarities. For eg., the families in the order Carnivora include Canidae, Felidae, Ursidae, etc.
Genus
A group of similar species forms a genus. Some genera have only one species and is known as monotypic, whereas, some have more than one species and is known as polytypic. For eg., lion and tiger are placed under the genus Panthera.
Species
It is the lowest level of taxonomic hierarchy. There are about 8.7 million different species on earth. It refers to a group of organisms that are similar in shape, form, reproductive features. Species can be further divided into sub-species.
Binomial Naming System
Scientists use a two-name system called a Binomial Naming System. A binomial name means that it's made up of two words (bi-nomial). The "Genus" and "Species" categories from the Taxonomic hierarchy are used to create the scientific name. The first word is the genus and the second is the species. The first word is capitalized and the second is not. The scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus name, while sapiens is the species name. All other species in the genus Homo are extinct. Some were ancestral to humans, such as Homo erectus. Others lived at the same time, were closely related, and interbred with Homo sapiens, such as Homo neanderthalensis, the Neanderthals. The “genus” is the larger of the two groups and can be equated to the use of a last name like “Smith.” For example, genus identifies one as “Smith” and the species would be akin to an individual’s first name, like “Joe.”
Read more at Gardening Know How: Botanical Nomenclature Guide: The Meaning Of Latin Plant Names https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/latin-plant-names.htm
Facts about Taxonomy:
- The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy.
- The genus begins with a capital letter, whereas the first letter in the specific epithet is lower-case. Both are italicized.
- Sometimes in plant taxonomy, you will see a third name. In such cases, we are simply getting more specific, accounting for variation within a species. Most commonly, this third name indicates a cultivar (cultivated variety); it will appear in single quotation marks and its first letter is capitalized. But, sometimes, this third name indicates a variety (naturally occurring variety).
Botanical Taxonomy
In botanical binomial Latin, the genus is a noun and the species is a descriptive adjective for it. Take for example, Acer is the Latin plant name (genus) for maple. Since there are many different types of maple, another name (the species) is added to for positive identification. So, when confronted with the name Acer rubrum (red maple), the gardener will know he/she is looking at a maple with vibrant red fall leaves. This is helpful as Acer rubrum remains the same regardless of whether the gardener is in Iowa or elsewhere in the world.
Lets look at some examples - (Focusing on the genus pinus (Pine))
The genus Pinus contains around 126 species and is the largest genus of conifers and the most widespread genus of trees in the Northern Hemisphere.
Pinus Genus:
Common Name: Scots Pine
Scientific Name: Pinus sylvestris
Name Origin: The Pinus sylvestris (Pinus = Pine, sylvestris = of the forest)
Description: Scots pine is an evergreen conifer native to northern Europe. Mature trees grow to 35m and can live for up to 700 years. The bark is a scaly orange-brown, which develops plates and fissures with age.
Common Name: Lodgepole Pine
Scientific Name: Pinus contorta
(Pinus = Pine, Contorta = Contorted)
Description: A tall, slender, straight tree which grows throughout most of the US interior.
Common Name: Sugar Pine
Scientific Name: Pinus lambertiana
Name Origin:( Pinus = Pine, lambertiana = named for the British botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert)
Native to the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Ranges at 3,000-5,000' elevation. Occurs naturally among other pines, firs and incense cedars, which usually predominate. Not readily adaptable to cultivation.
Three Trees I learnt about which are native to Tamil Nadu:
Common Name: Lignum Vitae
Scientific Name: As above
Name Origin:(Lignum = wood, vitae = of life)
Description: "Lignum vitae" is Latin for "wood of life", and derives its name from its medicinal uses; lignum vitae resin has been used to treat a variety of medical conditions from coughs to arthritis, and chips of the wood can also be used to brew a tea. Lignum Vitae is regarded by most to be both the heaviest and hardest wood in the world. Its durability in submerged or ground-contact applications is also exceptional. Lignum Vitae has been used for propeller shaft bearings on ships, and its natural oils provide self-lubrication that gives the wood excellent wear resistance.
Common Name: Ceylon Ebony
Scientific Name: Diospyros ebenum
Name Origin: Not Known
Description: Heartwood is a jet black, sometimes with grey or dark brown streaks. Pale yellow sapwood is clearly demarcated from heartwood. Ironically, the very best quality ebony looks like black plastic. Although Ceylon Ebony was the original ebony of commerce, it’s seldom available today. Expect prices to be very high, and availability to be very scarce.
Common Name: Red sandalwood
Scientific Name: Pterocarpus santalinus
Name Origin: The generic name ‘Pterocarpus’ is derived from the Greek root words, ‘pteron’ means a wing and ‘karpos’ means a fruit, referring to the winged pot or feathery fruits. The specific epithet ‘santalinus’ is derived from noun base ‘Sandal’ and Latin adjectival suffix ‘inus’ means like, which hints that this plant is possessing the characteristics of or resembling to that of Sandal or Sandalwood.
Description: Pterocarpus santalinus is a light-demanding small tree, growing to 8 metres (26 ft) tall with a trunk 50–150 cm diameter. It is fast-growing when young, reaching 5 metres (16 ft) tall in three years, even on degraded soils. It is not frost tolerant, being killed by temperatures of −1 °C.
Websites Referenced:
- https://www.wood-database.com/zitan/
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lignum_vitae
- https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?itemID=900
- https://gardenerspath.com/plants/landscape-trees/identifying-conifers/
- https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/Pages/pingla/pingla.shtml
- https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/TreeList.cfm
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/taeda#Latin
- https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/scots-pine/
- https://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_contorta.php
- https://www.thespruce.com/why-we-use-botanical-nomenclature-2131099
- https://conifersociety.org/conifers/pinus-glabra/
- https://www.britannica.com/science/taxonomy
- https://basicbiology.net/biology-101/taxonomy
- https://biologydictionary.net/taxonomy/
- https://wimastergardener.org/article/whats-in-a-name-understanding-botanical-or-latin-names/
- https://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/
- https://www.thespruce.com/scientific-names-of-plants-listed-alphabetically-4120570
- https://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/avh/help/names/index.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_nomenclature
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