Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal
structure of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
s. Originally it included
plant morphology
Phytomorphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants.Raven, P. H., R. F. Evert, & S. E. Eichhorn. ''Biology of Plants'', 7th ed., page 9. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 2005). . This is usually considered distinct from ...
, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th century plant anatomy has been considered a separate field referring only to internal plant structure. Plant anatomy is now frequently investigated at the
cellular level, and often involves the sectioning of
tissues and
microscopy.
Structural divisions
Some studies of plant anatomy use a systems approach, organized on the basis of the plant's activities, such as nutrient transport, flowering, pollination, embryogenesis or seed development. Others are more classically divided into the following structural categories:
: Flower anatomy, including study of the
Calyx,
Corolla,
Androecium, and
Gynoecium
:
Leaf anatomy
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...
, including study of the
Epidermis,
stomata and
Palisade cell
Palisade cells are plant cells located on the leaves, right below the epidermis and cuticle that is the outermost layer of the leaf. In simpler terms, they are known as leaf cells. Palisade means "stake" in latin, they are vertically elongated an ...
s
: Stem anatomy, including
Stem structure and
vascular tissue
Vascular tissue is a complex conducting tissue, formed of more than one cell type, found in vascular plants. The primary components of vascular tissue are the xylem and phloem. These two tissues transport fluid and nutrients internally. The ...
s,
buds and
shoot apex
: Fruit/Seed anatomy, including structure of the
Ovule
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the '' integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the ...
,
Seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
,
Pericarp
Fruit anatomy is the plant anatomy of the internal structure of fruit. Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Aggr ...
and
Accessory fruit
An accessory fruit is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the floral ovary but from some adjacent tissue exterior to the carpel.Esau, K. 1977. ''Anatomy of seed plants''. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Accessory fruits are u ...
: Wood anatomy, including structure of the
Bark,
Cork,
Xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...
,
Phloem
Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is c ...
,
Vascular cambium
The vascular cambium is the main growth tissue in the stems and roots of many plants, specifically in dicots such as buttercups and oak trees, gymnosperms such as pine trees, as well as in certain other vascular plants. It produces secondary xy ...
,
Heartwood and sapwood and
branch collar
A branch collar is the "shoulder" between the branch and trunk of woody plants; the inflammation formed at the base of the branch is caused by annually overlapping trunk tissue. The shape of the branch collar is due to two separate growth pattern ...
: Root anatomy, including structure of the
Root,
root tip,
endodermis
History
About 300 BC
Theophrastus wrote a number of plant treatises, only two of which survive, ''
Enquiry into Plants
Theophrastus's ''Enquiry into Plants'' or ''Historia Plantarum'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ φυτῶν ἱστορία, ''Peri phyton historia'') was, along with his mentor Aristotle's ''History of Animals'', Pliny the Elder's '' Natural History'' a ...
'' (Περὶ φυτῶν ἱστορία), and ''On the Causes of Plants'' (Περὶ φυτῶν αἰτιῶν). He developed concepts of plant morphology and classification, which did not withstand the scientific scrutiny of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
.
A Swiss physician and botanist,
Gaspard Bauhin
Gaspard Bauhin or Caspar Bauhin ( la, Casparus Bauhinus; 17 January 1560 – 5 December 1624), was a Swiss botanist whose ''Pinax theatri botanici'' (1623) described thousands of plants and classified them in a manner that draws comparisons to t ...
, introduced
binomial nomenclature
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
into plant
taxonomy. He published ''Pinax theatri botanici'' in 1596, which was the first to use this convention for naming of species. His criteria for classification included natural relationships, or 'affinities', which in many cases were structural.
It was in the late 1600s that plant anatomy became refined into a modern science. Italian doctor and microscopist,
Marcello Malpighi
Marcello Malpighi (10 March 1628 – 30 November 1694) was an Italian biologist and physician, who is referred to as the "Founder of microscopical anatomy, histology & Father of physiology and embryology". Malpighi's name is borne by several ph ...
, was one of the two founders of plant anatomy. In 1671 he published his ''Anatomia Plantarum'', the first major advance in plant physiogamy since
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
. The other founder was the British doctor
Nehemiah Grew
Nehemiah Grew (26 September 164125 March 1712) was an English plant anatomist and physiologist, known as the "Father of Plant Anatomy".
Biography
Grew was the only son of Obadiah Grew (1607–1688), Nonconformist divine and vicar of St Mic ...
. He published ''An Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants'' in 1672 and ''The Anatomy of Plants'' in 1682. Grew is credited with the recognition of plant cells, although he called them 'vesicles' and 'bladders'. He correctly identified and described the sexual organs of plants (flowers) and their parts.
In the eighteenth century,
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
established taxonomy based on structure, and his early work was with plant anatomy. While the exact structural level which is to be considered to be scientifically valid for comparison and differentiation has changed with the growth of knowledge, the basic principles were established by Linnaeus. He published his master work, ''Species Plantarum'' in 1753.
In 1802, French botanist
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (27 March 1776 – 12 September 1854) was a French botanist and politician. He was a founder of the science of plant cytology.
A native Parisian, at the age of twenty, he became an assistant-naturalist with ...
, published ''Traité d'anatomie et de physiologie végétale'' (''Treatise on Plant Anatomy and Physiology'') establishing the beginnings of the science of plant
cytology
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...
.
In 1812,
Johann Jacob Paul Moldenhawer published ''Beyträge zur Anatomie der Pflanzen'', describing microscopic studies of plant tissues.
In 1813 a Swiss botanist,
Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, published ''Théorie élémentaire de la botanique'', in which he argued that plant anatomy, not physiology, ought to be the sole basis for plant classification. Using a scientific basis, he established structural criteria for defining and separating plant genera.
In 1830,
Franz Meyen published ''Phytotomie'', the first comprehensive review of plant anatomy.
In 1838 German botanist
Matthias Jakob Schleiden, published ''Contributions to Phytogenesis'', stating, "the lower plants all consist of one cell, while the higher plants are composed of (many) individual cells" thus confirming and continuing Mirbel's work.
A German-Polish botanist,
Eduard Strasburger, described the mitotic process in plant cells and further demonstrated that new cell nuclei can only arise from the division of other pre-existing nuclei. His ''Studien über Protoplasma'' was published in 1876.
Gottlieb Haberlandt
Gottlieb Haberlandt (28 November 1854 – 30 January 1945) was an Austrian botanist. He was the son of European 'soybean' pioneer Professor Friedrich J. Haberlandt. His son Ludwig Haberlandt was an early reproductive physiologist now given credit ...
, a German botanist, studied plant physiology and classified plant tissue based upon function. On this basis, in 1884 he published ''Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie'' (''Physiological Plant Anatomy'') in which he described twelve types of tissue systems (absorptive, mechanical, photosynthetic, etc.).
British paleobotanists
Dunkinfield Henry Scott and
William Crawford Williamson described the structures of fossilized plants at the end of the nineteenth century. Scott's ''Studies in Fossil Botany'' was published in 1900.
Following
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
's ''Origin of Species'' a Canadian botanist,
Edward Charles Jeffrey, who was studying the comparative anatomy and phylogeny of different
vascular plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...
groups, applied the theory to plants using the form and structure of plants to establish a number of evolutionary lines. He published his ''The Anatomy of Woody Plants'' in 1917.
The growth of comparative plant anatomy was spearheaded by British botanist
Agnes Arber
Agnes Robertson Arber FRS (23 February 1879 – 22 March 1960) was a British plant morphologist and anatomist, historian of botany and philosopher of biology. She was born in London but lived most of her life in Cambridge, including the las ...
. She published ''Water Plants: A Study of Aquatic Angiosperms'' in 1920, ''Monocotyledons: A Morphological Study'' in 1925, and ''The Gramineae: A Study of Cereal, Bamboo and Grass'' in 1934.
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
,
Katherine Esau published, ''Plant Anatomy'' (1953), which became the definitive textbook on plant structure in North American universities and elsewhere, it was still in print as of 2006.
She followed up with her ''Anatomy of seed plants'' in 1960.
See also
*
Plant morphology
Phytomorphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants.Raven, P. H., R. F. Evert, & S. E. Eichhorn. ''Biology of Plants'', 7th ed., page 9. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 2005). . This is usually considered distinct from ...
*
Plant physiology
*
Anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
References
Further reading
General
* Crang, R.C.; Lyons-Sobaski, S.; Wise, R.R. (2018) ''Plant Anatomy: A Concept-Based Approach to the Study of Seed Plants''. Springer, New York, 725 pp.
* Eames, Arthur Johnson; MacDaniels, Laurence H. (1947). ''An Introduction to Plant Anatomy'' 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York
link(1st ed., 1925
link.
* Esau, Katherine (1965). ''Plant Anatomy'' 2nd ed. Wiley, New York.
* Meicenheimer, R. ''History of Plant Anatomy''. Miami University
Specialized
* Cutler, D. F.; Gregory, M.; Rudall, P. (eds.) (1960-2014). ''Anatomy of the Monocotyledons''. 10 vols. Oxford University Press.
* Goffinet, B.; Buck, W. R.; Shaw, J. (2008). Morphology, anatomy, and classification of the Bryophyta. In: Goffinet, B.; Shaw, J. (eds.). ''Bryophyte Biology'', 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, pp. 55–138 (1st ed., 2000
link.
* Jeffrey, E. C. (1917). ''The anatomy of woody plants''. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
link
* Metcalfe, C.R.; Chalk, L. (1957). ''Anatomy of the Dicotyledons: Leaves, stem and wood in relation to taxonomy, with notes on economic uses''. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1500 pp.
link(2nd ed., 1979-1998, 4 vols.).
* Schoute, J. C. (1938). Anatomy. In: Verdoorn, F. (ed.). ''Manual of Pteridology''. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague. pp. 65–104
link
* Schweingruber, F. H.; Börner, A.; Schulze, E. (2011-2013). ''Atlas of Stem Anatomy in Herbs, Shrubs and Trees''. Vol. 1, 2011
link Vol. 2, 2013
link Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
External links
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070704063752/http://utc.usu.edu/factsheets/CarexFSF/glossary.htm Botanical Visual GlossaryPlant anatomy glossary University of Rhode Island
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Branches of botany