Biol 317: Plant Classification & Identification Summer 2012

Instructor: Ryan Miller Office: 408 Hitchcock

Office hours: TTH 10-11am or by appointment Email: rjarekm@uw.edu

Course website: http://courses.washington.edu/bot113/summer/

Peer TAs: Erica, Marina, Tasha, Jacob

TA: Pat Lu-Irving

Nomenclature

Why naming is important?

George

Nomenclature

Why naming is important?

George

http://popular-cartoon.blogspot.com/2011/02/george-of-jungle.html

Why naming is important?

George

George Bush

Nomenclature

Why naming is important?

George

George Bush

Nomenclature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush

Why naming is important?

George

George Bush

George W. Bush

Nomenclature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush

Problems with common names

No rules for usage!

http://tombutton.users.btopenworld.com/potato_1.jpg

The same common name may be associated with many different plant species.

One kind of plant will have many different common names.

“potato” = Solanum tuberosum, Dioscorea bulbifera, Apios americana, Dioscorea batatas, Solanopteris bifrons, Plectranthus rotundifolius, Allium cepa, Gastrodia sesamoides, Ipomoea batatas, Solanum macranthum, Ipomoea pandurata, Solanum jasminoides, Dioscorea esculenta (Mabberley 1997)

Nomenclature

Early Attempts at Formal Nomenclature

Early scientific names for the common wild briar rose

Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina (“odorless woodland dog rose”)

Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro (“pinkish white woodland rose with hairless leaves”)

1700s: Very specific, descriptive names Up to a dozen Latin adjectives Groups identified: 9,000 species 700 genera

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_canina

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Binomial nomenclature Genus + species names = scientific name

e.g., Homo sapiens, Solanum tuberosum or Homo sapiens, Solanum tuberosum

Carolus Linnaeus, posing in costume after expedition to Lapland in 1732. - National Geographic

Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus

Linnaeus System “Species Plantarum” (1753)

Carolus Linnaeus, detail of a portrait by Alexander Roslin, 1775; in the Svenska Porträttarkivet, Stockholm.

Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus

“The actual petals of a flower contribute nothing to generation, serving only as the bridal bed which the great Creator has so gloriously prepared, adorned with such precious bedcurtains, and perfumed with so many sweet scents in order that the bridegroom and bride may therein celebrate their nuptuals with the greater solemnity.” From his ‘Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum’

Kingdom Plantae Phylum Magnoliophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Solanales Family Solanaceae Genus Solanum Species Solanum tuberosum L.

Hierarchical system

Kingdom Plantae Phylum Magnoliophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Solanales Family Solanaceae Genus Solanum Species Solanum tuberosum L.

Hierarchical system

Kingdom Plantae Phylum Magnoliophyta Class Magnoliopsida Subclass Asteridae Order Solanales Family Solanaceae Subfamily Solanoideae Tribe Solaneae Genus Solanum Species Solanum tuberosum L. Subspecies S. tuberosum ssp. andigena

Flexible system

Classification

What is Classification? The sorting of things into groups and the assigning of names to those groups.

Biological science - The grouping of organisms into categories based on shared characteristics or traits.

Why is this important? Dealing with large amounts of information. Understanding and communication about the natural world. Power of prediction. To make sense of comparative studies… prevents comparing ‘apples to oranges’ Classification is the way we communicate about biological diversity!

Group organisms based on how alike they appear…

Linnaeus’ Sexual System:

Presence/absence, arrangement, and number of sexual parts as the basis for classification:

-24 classes for all plants, basis on stamens

-Classes grouped into orders, basis on styles

How do we classify organisms?

http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/

Group organisms based on how alike they appear…

Linnaeus’ Sexual System:

Presence/absence, arrangement, and number of sexual parts as the basis for classification:

-24 classes for all plants, basis on stamens

-Classes grouped into orders, basis on styles

How do we classify organisms?

http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/

Group organisms based on how alike they appear…

Today, many characters are used:

1.  Visible morphology - structures 2.  Anatomy – internal or microscopic structures 3.  Chemicals – presence/absence, pigments, toxins, etc. 4. Genetics – chromosome, DNA similarity

How do we classify organisms?

Linnaeus’ system was artificial.

Artificial classification - with no regard for evolutionary relationships. (e.g., any classification of things other than living things would have to be artificial).

Linnaeus’ Classification

“Species Plantarum” (1753)

100 years before anyone had heard of the idea of evolution. At the time, people thought species were static or unchanging.

http://universe-review.ca/I10-70-Darwin.jpg

Natural Classification

Charles Darwin (1859)

Charles Darwin (1859 – On the Origin of Species) was the first to suggest that any classification of life should be “genealogical” and would naturally be hierarchical.

Haekel’s tree of life (1866)

http://plus.maths.org/issue46/features/phylogenetics/Haeckel.png

Wikipedia commons

Systematics as a process

Since Darwin, scientists have placed more and more emphasis on developing natural classification systems that reflect the evolutionary relationships of a group of organisms.

Systematics = the study of biological diversity and its evolutionary history. Basic activities include classification and naming (taxonomy).

Just like any other kinds of science, systematics is a process. The goal to classify life based on its evolutionary history is an ongoing process.

As a result, classifications are dynamic…

Classifications are dynamic…

Before: Lycopersicon esculentum Now: Solanum lycopersicum

(Spooner et al., 1993)

http://www.wpclipart.com/food/fruit/tomato/tomato.png

Green plants

“Green algae”

Green plants

Live

rwor

ts M

osse

s H

ornw

orts

Lyco

phyt

es

Fern

s

Gymnosperms Angiosperms Seed plants

Tracheophytes (vascular plants) Bryophytes

Land plants

Green plants

“Green algae”

Green plants

Live

rwor

ts M

osse

s H

ornw

orts

Lyco

phyt

es

Fern

s

Gymnosperms Angiosperms Seed plants

Tracheophytes (vascular plants) Bryophytes

Land plants

Conifers

(Stefanovic et al. 1998)

Conifers

(Gadek et al. 2000)