135-570: Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin 's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew , succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker , and was awarded the highest honours of British science. Hooker was born in Halesworth , Suffolk, England. He
270-648: A prairie flora derived from the eastward; 2. a so-called desert and saline flora derived from the west; 3. a sub-alpine; 4. an alpine flora , the two latter of widely different origin, and in one sense proper to the Rocky Mountain ranges. His overview of North American flora contained these elements: While on the Erebus , Hooker had read proofs of Charles Darwin 's Voyage of the Beagle provided by Charles Lyell and had been very impressed by Darwin's skill as
405-595: A Tour in Marocco and The Great Atlas (1878). This was undertaken with his friend Asa Gray , the leading American botanist of the day. They wished to investigate the connection between the floras of eastern United States and those of eastern continental Asia and Japan; and the line of demarcation between Arctic floras of America and Greenland . As probable causes they considered the Glacial periods and an earlier land connection with an Arctic continent. "A difficult question
540-490: A botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner (1516–1565) and herbalist John Gerard (1545– c. 1611 ) published herbals covering the supposed medicinal uses of plants. Naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) was considered the father of natural history , which included
675-492: A chair at Glasgow University which became vacant on Balfour's appointment. Instead, he took a position as botanist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1846. He began work on palaeobotany , searching for fossil plants in the coal-beds of Wales , eventually discovering the first coal ball in 1855. He became engaged to Frances Henslow, daughter of Charles Darwin 's botany tutor John Stevens Henslow , but he
810-458: A church, and in some languages the same word means both 'nave' and 'ship', as for instance Danish skib , Swedish skepp , Dutch schip or Spanish nave . The earliest churches were built when builders were familiar with the form of the Roman basilica , a public building for business transactions. It had a wide central area, with aisles separated by columns, and with windows near
945-849: A collision between the Erebus and Terror, they sailed to the Falkland Islands , to Tierra del Fuego , back to the Falklands and onward to their third sortie into the Antarctic. When Hooker arrived on the Falkland Islands with the expedition of Ross, he developed a close friendship with Richard Clement Moody , the Governor of the Falkland Islands. Moody granted Hooker full use of his personal library, which Hooker described as 'excellent', and Hooker described Moody as 'a very active and intelligent young man, most anxious to improve
1080-414: A considerable problem in agriculture, and the biology and control of plant pathogens in agriculture and natural ecosystems . Ethnobotany is the study of the relationships between plants and people. When applied to the investigation of historical plant–people relationships ethnobotany may be referred to as archaeobotany or palaeoethnobotany . Some of the earliest plant-people relationships arose between
1215-452: A continuum between the major morphological categories of root, stem (caulome), leaf (phyllome) and trichome . Furthermore, it emphasises structural dynamics. Modern systematics aims to reflect and discover phylogenetic relationships between plants. Modern Molecular phylogenetics largely ignores morphological characters, relying on DNA sequences as data. Molecular analysis of DNA sequences from most families of flowering plants enabled
1350-400: A hierarchical classification of plant species that remains the reference point for modern botanical nomenclature . This established a standardised binomial or two-part naming scheme where the first name represented the genus and the second identified the species within the genus. For the purposes of identification, Linnaeus's Systema Sexuale classified plants into 24 groups according to
1485-632: A naturalist. They had met once, before the Antarctic voyage embarked. After Hooker's return to England, he was approached by Darwin who invited him to classify the plants that Darwin had collected in South America and the Galápagos Islands . Hooker agreed and the pair began a lifelong friendship. On 11 January 1844 Darwin mentioned to Hooker his early ideas on the transmutation of species and natural selection , and Hooker showed interest. In 1847 he agreed to read Darwin's "Essay" explaining
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#17327938779221620-404: A plant sucks water through them under water stress. Lignin is also used in other cell types like sclerenchyma fibres that provide structural support for a plant and is a major constituent of wood. Sporopollenin is a chemically resistant polymer found in the outer cell walls of spores and pollen of land plants responsible for the survival of early land plant spores and the pollen of seed plants in
1755-552: A polymer of fructose is used for the same purpose in the sunflower family Asteraceae . Some of the glucose is converted to sucrose (common table sugar) for export to the rest of the plant. Unlike in animals (which lack chloroplasts), plants and their eukaryote relatives have delegated many biochemical roles to their chloroplasts , including synthesising all their fatty acids , and most amino acids . The fatty acids that chloroplasts make are used for many things, such as providing material to build cell membranes out of and making
1890-464: A process that generates molecular oxygen (O 2 ) as a by-product. The light energy captured by chlorophyll a is initially in the form of electrons (and later a proton gradient ) that's used to make molecules of ATP and NADPH which temporarily store and transport energy. Their energy is used in the light-independent reactions of the Calvin cycle by the enzyme rubisco to produce molecules of
2025-505: A pure form of carbon made by pyrolysis of wood, has a long history as a metal- smelting fuel, as a filter material and adsorbent and as an artist's material and is one of the three ingredients of gunpowder . Cellulose , the world's most abundant organic polymer, can be converted into energy, fuels, materials and chemical feedstock. Products made from cellulose include rayon and cellophane , wallpaper paste , biobutanol and gun cotton . Sugarcane , rapeseed and soy are some of
2160-466: A short and apparently minor illness, Hooker died in his sleep at home, the Camp, Sunningdale , Berkshire. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwin's in the nave but insisted that Hooker be cremated before. His widow, Hyacinth, declined the proposal and eventually Hooker's body was buried, as he wished to be, alongside his father in the churchyard of St Anne's Church, Kew ,
2295-401: A short distance from Kew Gardens . His memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilda Smith. Hooker's first expedition, led by James Clark Ross , consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror ; it was the last major voyage of exploration made entirely under sail. Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew. He sailed on the Erebus and
2430-516: A standard Students Flora of the British Isles and a monumental work, the Genera plantarum (1860–83), based on the collections at Kew, in which he had the assistance of George Bentham . His collaboration with George Bentham was especially important. Bentham, an amateur botanist who worked at Kew for many years, was perhaps the leading botanical systematist of the 19th century. The Handbook of
2565-536: A student of Aristotle who invented and described many of its principles and is widely regarded in the scientific community as the "Father of Botany". His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants , constitute the most important contributions to botanical science until the Middle Ages , almost seventeen centuries later. Another work from Ancient Greece that made an early impact on botany
2700-550: A threat to Owen's plans for a museum in South Kensington to house the natural history collections. Hooker cited mismanagement at the British Museum as a justification. After Joseph had succeeded his father as Director, in 1865, the independence of Kew was seriously threatened by the machinations of a member of parliament, Acton Smee Ayrton , whose appointment as First Commissioner of Works by Gladstone in 1869
2835-460: A useful proxy for temperature in historical climatology , and the biological impact of climate change and global warming . Palynology , the analysis of fossil pollen deposits in sediments from thousands or millions of years ago allows the reconstruction of past climates. Estimates of atmospheric CO 2 concentrations since the Palaeozoic have been obtained from stomatal densities and
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#17327938779222970-1010: A variety of spatial scales in groups, populations and communities that collectively constitute vegetation. Regions with characteristic vegetation types and dominant plants as well as similar abiotic and biotic factors, climate , and geography make up biomes like tundra or tropical rainforest . Herbivores eat plants, but plants can defend themselves and some species are parasitic or even carnivorous . Other organisms form mutually beneficial relationships with plants. For example, mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia provide plants with nutrients in exchange for food, ants are recruited by ant plants to provide protection, honey bees , bats and other animals pollinate flowers and humans and other animals act as dispersal vectors to spread spores and seeds . Plant responses to climate and other environmental changes can inform our understanding of how these changes affect ecosystem function and productivity. For example, plant phenology can be
3105-628: A way of drug discovery . Plants can synthesise coloured dyes and pigments such as the anthocyanins responsible for the red colour of red wine , yellow weld and blue woad used together to produce Lincoln green , indoxyl , source of the blue dye indigo traditionally used to dye denim and the artist's pigments gamboge and rose madder . Sugar, starch , cotton, linen , hemp , some types of rope , wood and particle boards , papyrus and paper, vegetable oils , wax , and natural rubber are examples of commercially important materials made from plant tissues or their secondary products. Charcoal ,
3240-456: A wider range of shared characters and were widely followed. The Candollean system reflected his ideas of the progression of morphological complexity and the later Bentham & Hooker system , which was influential until the mid-19th century, was influenced by Candolle's approach. Darwin 's publication of the Origin of Species in 1859 and his concept of common descent required modifications to
3375-406: Is De materia medica , a five-volume encyclopedia about preliminary herbal medicine written in the middle of the first century by Greek physician and pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides . De materia medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years. Important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyya 's Nabatean Agriculture , Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarī 's (828–896)
3510-405: Is peppermint , Mentha × piperita , a sterile hybrid between Mentha aquatica and spearmint, Mentha spicata . The many cultivated varieties of wheat are the result of multiple inter- and intra- specific crosses between wild species and their hybrids. Angiosperms with monoecious flowers often have self-incompatibility mechanisms that operate between the pollen and stigma so that
3645-476: Is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with contributions and insights from most other areas of science and technology. Research topics include the study of plant structure , growth and differentiation, reproduction , biochemistry and primary metabolism , chemical products, development , diseases , evolutionary relationships , systematics , and plant taxonomy . Dominant themes in 21st-century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics , which study
3780-762: Is gathered by ethnobotanists. This information can relay a great deal of information on how the land once was thousands of years ago and how it has changed over that time. The goals of plant ecology are to understand the causes of their distribution patterns, productivity, environmental impact, evolution, and responses to environmental change. Plants depend on certain edaphic (soil) and climatic factors in their environment but can modify these factors too. For example, they can change their environment's albedo , increase runoff interception, stabilise mineral soils and develop their organic content, and affect local temperature. Plants compete with other organisms in their ecosystem for resources. They interact with their neighbours at
3915-479: Is no doubt that rivalry resulted between the British Museum, where there was the very important Herbarium of the Department of Botany, and Kew. The rivalry at times became extremely personal, especially between Joseph Hooker and Owen. ... At the root was Owen's feeling that Kew should be subordinate to the British Museum (and to Owen) and should not be allowed to develop as an independent scientific institution with
4050-451: Is still a major foundation of modern botany. Her books Plant Anatomy and Anatomy of Seed Plants have been key plant structural biology texts for more than half a century. The discipline of plant ecology was pioneered in the late 19th century by botanists such as Eugenius Warming , who produced the hypothesis that plants form communities , and his mentor and successor Christen C. Raunkiær whose system for describing plant life forms
4185-400: Is still given to these groups by botanists, and fungi (including lichens) and photosynthetic protists are usually covered in introductory botany courses. Palaeobotanists study ancient plants in the fossil record to provide information about the evolutionary history of plants . Cyanobacteria , the first oxygen-releasing photosynthetic organisms on Earth, are thought to have given rise to
Joseph Dalton Hooker - Misplaced Pages Continue
4320-444: Is still in use today. The concept that the composition of plant communities such as temperate broadleaf forest changes by a process of ecological succession was developed by Henry Chandler Cowles , Arthur Tansley and Frederic Clements . Clements is credited with the idea of climax vegetation as the most complex vegetation that an environment can support and Tansley introduced the concept of ecosystems to biology. Building on
4455-502: Is the science of plant life and a branch of biology . A botanist , plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek word botanē ( βοτάνη ) meaning " pasture ", " herbs " " grass ", or " fodder "; Botanē is in turn derived from boskein ( Greek : βόσκειν ), "to feed" or "to graze ". Traditionally, botany has also included
4590-498: Is the study of ferns and allied plants. A number of other taxa of ranks varying from family to subgenus have terms for their study, including agrostology (or graminology) for the study of grasses, synantherology for the study of composites, and batology for the study of brambles. Study can also be divided by guild rather than clade or grade . Dendrology is the study of woody plants. Many divisions of biology have botanical subfields. These are commonly denoted by prefixing
4725-604: The Flora Antarctica (1844–47). In the Flora he wrote about islands and their role in plant geography : the work made Hooker's reputation as a systemist and plant geographer. His works on the voyage were completed with Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–53) and Flora Tasmaniae (1853–59). This trip was taken in the autumn of 1860, with Daniel Hanbury . They visited and collected in Syria and Palestine ; no full-length report
4860-564: The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group to publish in 1998 a phylogeny of flowering plants, answering many of the questions about relationships among angiosperm families and species. The theoretical possibility of a practical method for identification of plant species and commercial varieties by DNA barcoding is the subject of active current research. Botany is divided along several axes. Some subfields of botany relate to particular groups of organisms. Divisions related to
4995-499: The Book of Plants , and Ibn Bassal 's The Classification of Soils . In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati , and Ibn al-Baitar (d. 1248) wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner. In the mid-16th century, botanical gardens were founded in a number of Italian universities. The Padua botanical garden in 1545 is usually considered to be the first which is still in its original location. These gardens continued
5130-417: The C 4 carbon fixation pathway for photosynthesis which avoid the losses resulting from photorespiration in the more common C 3 carbon fixation pathway. These biochemical strategies are unique to land plants. Phytochemistry is a branch of plant biochemistry primarily concerned with the chemical substances produced by plants during secondary metabolism . Some of these compounds are toxins such as
5265-763: The Wasatch Range . A journey of 29 hours took them to Reno and Carson City , then Silver City and ten days by wagon across the Sierra Nevada . Thus they came to the Yosemite and Calaveras Grove , and ended up in San Francisco. Hooker was back in Kew with 1,000 dried specimens by October. His comments on his encounters include the following: His views on the flora of Colorado and Utah : There are two temperate, and two cold or mountain floras, viz: 1.
5400-504: The alkaloid coniine from hemlock . Others, such as the essential oils peppermint oil and lemon oil are useful for their aroma, as flavourings and spices (e.g., capsaicin ), and in medicine as pharmaceuticals as in opium from opium poppies . Many medicinal and recreational drugs , such as tetrahydrocannabinol (active ingredient in cannabis ), caffeine , morphine and nicotine come directly from plants. Others are simple derivatives of botanical natural products. For example,
5535-565: The auxin plant hormones by Kenneth V. Thimann in 1948 enabled regulation of plant growth by externally applied chemicals. Frederick Campion Steward pioneered techniques of micropropagation and plant tissue culture controlled by plant hormones . The synthetic auxin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or 2,4-D was one of the first commercial synthetic herbicides . 20th century developments in plant biochemistry have been driven by modern techniques of organic chemical analysis , such as spectroscopy , chromatography and electrophoresis . With
Joseph Dalton Hooker - Misplaced Pages Continue
5670-626: The cell theory with Theodor Schwann and Rudolf Virchow and was among the first to grasp the significance of the cell nucleus that had been described by Robert Brown in 1831. In 1855, Adolf Fick formulated Fick's laws that enabled the calculation of the rates of molecular diffusion in biological systems. Building upon the gene-chromosome theory of heredity that originated with Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), August Weismann (1834–1914) proved that inheritance only takes place through gametes . No other cells can pass on inherited characters. The work of Katherine Esau (1898–1997) on plant anatomy
5805-444: The cellulose and lignin used to build their bodies, and secondary products like resins and aroma compounds . Plants and various other groups of photosynthetic eukaryotes collectively known as " algae " have unique organelles known as chloroplasts . Chloroplasts are thought to be descended from cyanobacteria that formed endosymbiotic relationships with ancient plant and algal ancestors. Chloroplasts and cyanobacteria contain
5940-427: The indigenous people of Canada in identifying edible plants from inedible plants. This relationship the indigenous people had with plants was recorded by ethnobotanists. Plant biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes used by plants. Some of these processes are used in their primary metabolism like the photosynthetic Calvin cycle and crassulacean acid metabolism . Others make specialised materials like
6075-426: The pines , and flowering plants ) and the free-sporing cryptogams including ferns , clubmosses , liverworts , hornworts and mosses . Embryophytes are multicellular eukaryotes descended from an ancestor that obtained its energy from sunlight by photosynthesis . They have life cycles with alternating haploid and diploid phases. The sexual haploid phase of embryophytes, known as the gametophyte , nurtures
6210-432: The (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts , or in a church without transepts, to the chancel . When a church contains side aisles , as in a basilica -type building, the strict definition of the term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way,
6345-461: The 14th to the mid-16th century. Medieval naves were divided into bays, the repetition of form giving an effect of great length; and the vertical element of the nave was emphasized. During the Renaissance, in place of dramatic effects there were more balanced proportions. By the 1300s, the maintenance and decoration of the nave of parish churches was the responsibility of the parishioners;
6480-408: The 3-carbon sugar glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P). Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate is the first product of photosynthesis and the raw material from which glucose and almost all other organic molecules of biological origin are synthesised. Some of the glucose is converted to starch which is stored in the chloroplast. Starch is the characteristic energy store of most land plants and algae, while inulin ,
6615-691: The Admiralty. He would be the first European to collect plants in the Himalaya, but abandoned the projected visit to Labuan . He received free passage on HMS Sidon , to the Nile and then travelled overland to Suez where he boarded a ship to India. He arrived in Calcutta on 12 January 1848, leaving on 28th to begin his travels with a geological survey party under 'Mr Williams' , who he left on 3 March to continue travelling by elephant to Mirzapur , up
6750-567: The Ayrton Episode held at Kew. Ayrton behaved in an extraordinary way, interfering in matters and approaching Hooker's colleagues behind his back, apparently with the aim of getting Hooker to resign, when the expenditure on Kew could be curtailed and diverted. Ayrton actually took staff appointments out of Hooker's hands. He seemed not to value the scientific work, and to believe Kew should be just an amusement park. Hooker wrote: My life has become utterly detestable and I do long to throw up
6885-610: The British flora , begun by Bentham and completed by Hooker, was the standard text for a hundred years. It was always known as 'Bentham & Hooker'. In 1904, at the age of 87, Hooker published A sketch of the Vegetation of the Indian Empire . He continued the compilation of his father Sir William Jackson Hooker 's project, Icones Plantarum (Illustrations of Plants), producing volumes eleven through nineteen, with most of
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#17327938779227020-517: The Candollean system to reflect evolutionary relationships as distinct from mere morphological similarity. Botany was greatly stimulated by the appearance of the first "modern" textbook, Matthias Schleiden 's Grundzüge der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik , published in English in 1849 as Principles of Scientific Botany . Schleiden was a microscopist and an early plant anatomist who co-founded
7155-671: The Cape they entered the Southern Ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers. They departed for the Kerguelen Islands where they would spend several days. Hooker identified 18 flowering plants, 35 mosses and liverworts , 25 lichens and 51 algae, including some that were not described by surgeon William Anderson when James Cook had visited
7290-553: The Directorship. What can be more humiliating than two years of wrangling with such a creature! Finally, Hooker asked to be put in communication with Gladstone's private secretary, Algernon West . A statement was drawn up over the signatures of Darwin , Lyell , Huxley , Tyndall , Bentham and others. It was laid before Parliament by John Lubbock , and additional papers laid before the House of Lords. Lord Derby called for all
7425-522: The Ganges by boat to Siliguri and overland by pony to Darjeeling , arriving on 16 April 1848. Hooker's expedition was based in Darjeeling where he stayed with naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson . Through Hodgson he met British East India Company representative Archibald Campbell who negotiated Hooker's admission to Sikkim , which was finally approved in 1849 (He was later briefly taken prisoner by
7560-547: The Hookers, and suggested (amongst much else) that they had mismanaged the care of their trees, and that their systematic approach to botany was nothing more than "attaching barbarous binomials to foreign weeds". The discovery of this report no doubt helped to sway opinion in favour of Hooker and Kew (there was debate in the press as well as Parliament). Hooker replied to the Owen report in a point by point factual manner, and his reply
7695-582: The India Office, and lived to age 89. However, his third son, Brian, was a "great worry" to him. He qualified as a geologist and mining engineer at the Royal School of Mines but unable to get a job in Britain emigrated to Australia, where he married. He resigned a Queensland lectureship to invest (with his brother Willy) in an impressively named but cash-strapped gold-mining company which collapsed,
7830-738: The Khasi Hills and established a headquarters for their studies in Churra, where they stayed until 9 December, when they began their trip back to England. With Thomson he distributed the exsiccata -like series Herbarium Indiae orientalis . Hooker's survey of hitherto unexplored regions, the Himalayan Journals , dedicated to Charles Darwin , was published by the Calcutta Trigonometrical Survey Office in 1854, abbreviated again in 1855 and later by
7965-665: The Minerva Library of Famous Books published by Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co. in 1891. When Hooker returned to England his father, who had been appointed director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1841, was now a prominent man of science. William Hooker, through his connections, secured an Admiralty grant of £1000 to defray the cost of plates for his son's Botany of the Antarctic Voyages , and an annual stipend of £200 for Joseph while he worked on
8100-674: The Queensland Minerals Exploration Company. Joseph was appalled; Brian could not support his wife and children or find employment. In 1891, Hector sent a pessimistic report on a proposed tin mine on Stewart Island , and saw Brian in 1892 and 1893, after he left his family in Australia. Hector ceased to be involved with mining in New Zealand under the new Liberal government. Brian returned to his family in Australia in 1894. On 10 December 1911, after
8235-812: The Raja of Sikkim). Meanwhile, Hooker wrote to Darwin relaying to him the habits of animals in India, and collected plants in Bengal . He explored with local resident Charles Barnes, then travelled along the Great Runjeet river to its junction with the Teesta River and Tonglu mountain in the Singalila range on the border with Nepal . Hooker and a sizeable party of local assistants departed for eastern Nepal on 27 October 1848. They travelled to Zongri, west over
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#17327938779228370-670: The Survey vaults in Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, and they shed light on the international breadth of English scientific research in the first half of the nineteenth century. On 11 November 1847 Hooker left England for his three-year-long Himalayan expedition. This was just 10 days after being granted two and a half years' leave from the Geological Survey to study fossil plants in India and Borneo on behalf of Kew and
8505-657: The United States all produced valuable information and specimens for Kew. He started the series Flora Indica in 1855, together with Thomas Thompson . Their botanical observations and the publication of the Rhododendrons of Sikkim–Himalaya (1849–51), formed the basis of elaborate works on the rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya and on the flora of India. His works were illustrated with lithographs by Walter Hood Fitch . His greatest botanical work
8640-482: The Vegetable Kingdom at the start of chapter XII noted "The first and most important of the conclusions which may be drawn from the observations given in this volume, is that generally cross-fertilisation is beneficial and self-fertilisation often injurious, at least with the plants on which I experimented." An important adaptive benefit of outcrossing is that it allows the masking of deleterious mutations in
8775-412: The above pair of categories gives rise to fields such as bryogeography (the study of the distribution of mosses). Different parts of plants also give rise to their own subfields, including xylology , carpology (or fructology) and palynology , these been the study of wood, fruit and pollen/spores respectively. Botany also overlaps on the one hand with agriculture, horticulture and silviculture, and on
8910-517: The advantage of a great botanic garden. The relationship between the two men continued to deteriorate after Hooker became a supporter of Darwin's views and a member of the X-Club , who set out to get their way with the Royal Society. In 1868 Hooker had proposed that the whole of the huge herbarium collection of Joseph Banks should be moved from the British Museum to Kew, a reasonable idea, but
9045-439: The ancestor of plants by entering into an endosymbiotic relationship with an early eukaryote, ultimately becoming the chloroplasts in plant cells. The new photosynthetic plants (along with their algal relatives) accelerated the rise in atmospheric oxygen started by the cyanobacteria , changing the ancient oxygen-free, reducing , atmosphere to one in which free oxygen has been abundant for more than 2 billion years. Among
9180-447: The base of most food chains because they use the energy from the sun and nutrients from the soil and atmosphere, converting them into a form that can be used by animals. This is what ecologists call the first trophic level . The modern forms of the major staple foods , such as hemp , teff , maize, rice, wheat and other cereal grasses, pulses , bananas and plantains, as well as hemp , flax and cotton grown for their fibres, are
9315-500: The blue-green pigment chlorophyll a . Chlorophyll a (as well as its plant and green algal-specific cousin chlorophyll b ) absorbs light in the blue-violet and orange/red parts of the spectrum while reflecting and transmitting the green light that we see as the characteristic colour of these organisms. The energy in the red and blue light that these pigments absorb is used by chloroplasts to make energy-rich carbon compounds from carbon dioxide and water by oxygenic photosynthesis ,
9450-446: The broader historical sense of botany include bacteriology , mycology (or fungology) and phycology - the study of bacteria, fungi and algae respectively - with lichenology as a subfield of mycology. The narrower sense of botany in the sense of the study of embryophytes (land plants) is disambiguated as phytology. Bryology is the study of mosses (and in the broader sense also liverworts and hornworts). Pteridology (or filicology)
9585-608: The ceiling. Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is an early church which had this form. It was built in the 4th century on the orders of Roman emperor Constantine I , and replaced in the 16th century. The nave, the main body of the building, is the section set apart for the laity, while the chancel is reserved for the clergy. In medieval churches the nave was separated from the chancel by the rood screen ; these, being elaborately decorated, were notable features in European churches from
9720-457: The characters may be artificial in keys designed purely for identification ( diagnostic keys ) or more closely related to the natural or phyletic order of the taxa in synoptic keys. By the 18th century, new plants for study were arriving in Europe in increasing numbers from newly discovered countries and the European colonies worldwide. In 1753, Carl Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum ,
9855-578: The colony and gain every information [ sic ] respecting its products'. Subsequently, the Ross expedition made a landing at Cockburn Island off the Antarctic Peninsula , and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island . The ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843; the voyage had been a success for Ross as it was the first to confirm
9990-455: The correspondence on the matter. The Treasury supported Hooker and criticised Ayrton's behaviour. One extraordinary fact emerged. There had been an official report on Kew, which had not previously been seen in public, which Ayrton had caused to be written by Richard Owen. Hooker had not seen the report, and so had not been given right of reply. Nonetheless, the report was amongst the papers laid before Parliament, and it contained an attack on both
10125-461: The developing diploid embryo sporophyte within its tissues for at least part of its life, even in the seed plants, where the gametophyte itself is nurtured by its parent sporophyte. Other groups of organisms that were previously studied by botanists include bacteria (now studied in bacteriology ), fungi ( mycology ) – including lichen -forming fungi ( lichenology ), non- chlorophyte algae ( phycology ), and viruses ( virology ). However, attention
10260-463: The earliest was the Padua botanical garden . These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy and led in 1753 to the binomial system of nomenclature of Carl Linnaeus that remains in use to this day for the naming of all biological species. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new techniques were developed for
10395-419: The efforts of early humans to identify – and later cultivate – plants that were edible, poisonous, and possibly medicinal, making it one of the first endeavours of human investigation. Medieval physic gardens , often attached to monasteries , contained plants possibly having medicinal benefit. They were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities , founded from the 1540s onwards. One of
10530-650: The existence of the southern continent and chart much of its coastline. In 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh . This position included duties at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Scotland , and so the appointment was influenced by local politicians. An unusually protracted struggle ensued, resulting in the election of the locally born and bred botanist, John Hutton Balfour . The Darwin correspondence , now public, makes clear Darwin's sense of shock at this unexpected outcome. Hooker declined
10665-453: The extensive earlier work of Alphonse de Candolle , Nikolai Vavilov (1887–1943) produced accounts of the biogeography , centres of origin , and evolutionary history of economic plants. Particularly since the mid-1960s there have been advances in understanding of the physics of plant physiological processes such as transpiration (the transport of water within plant tissues), the temperature dependence of rates of water evaporation from
10800-484: The first of the three X-Clubbers in succession to become President of the Royal Society . In 1862, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . By his travels and his publications, Hooker built up a high scientific reputation at home. In 1855 he was appointed Assistant-Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , and in 1865 he succeeded his father as full Director, holding
10935-502: The flora. Hooker's flora was also to include that collected on the voyages of Cook and Menzies held by the British Museum and collections made on the Beagle . The floras were illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch (trained in botanical illustration by William Hooker), who would go on to become the most prolific Victorian botanical artist . Hooker's collections from the Antarctic voyage were described eventually in one of two volumes published as
11070-575: The fossil record. It is widely regarded as a marker for the start of land plant evolution during the Ordovician period. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today is much lower than it was when plants emerged onto land during the Ordovician and Silurian periods. Many monocots like maize and the pineapple and some dicots like the Asteraceae have since independently evolved pathways like Crassulacean acid metabolism and
11205-451: The functional relationships between plants and their habitats – the environments where they complete their life cycles . Plant ecologists study the composition of local and regional floras , their biodiversity , genetic diversity and fitness , the adaptation of plants to their environment, and their competitive or mutualistic interactions with other species. Some ecologists even rely on empirical data from indigenous people that
11340-412: The genome of progeny. This beneficial effect is also known as hybrid vigor or heterosis. Once outcrossing is established, subsequent switching to inbreeding becomes disadvantageous since it allows expression of the previously masked deleterious recessive mutations, commonly referred to as inbreeding depression. Nave The nave ( / n eɪ v / ) is the central part of a church , stretching from
11475-444: The global carbon and water cycles and plant roots bind and stabilise soils, preventing soil erosion . Plants are crucial to the future of human society as they provide food, oxygen, biochemicals , and products for people, as well as creating and preserving soil. Historically, all living things were classified as either animals or plants and botany covered the study of all organisms not considered animals. Botanists examine both
11610-551: The high altar . The term nave is from navis , the Latin word for ship , an early Christian symbol of the Church as a whole, with a possible connection to the " Ship of St. Peter " or the Ark of Noah . The term may also have been suggested by the keel shape of the vaulting of a church. In many Nordic and Baltic countries a model ship is commonly found hanging in the nave of
11745-618: The illustrations being prepared for him by Matilda Smith . The Herbarium at Kew was founded in 1853, and quickly grew in size and importance. At the time, Richard Owen was the Superintendent of the natural history departments of the British Museum , reporting only to the Head of the British Museum. Hooker, appointed in 1855 as Assistant Director of Kew, was the man most responsible for bringing foreign specimens to Kew. There
11880-621: The important botanical questions of the 21st century are the role of plants as primary producers in the global cycling of life's basic ingredients: energy, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water, and ways that our plant stewardship can help address the global environmental issues of resource management , conservation , human food security , biologically invasive organisms , carbon sequestration , climate change , and sustainability . Virtually all staple foods come either directly from primary production by plants, or indirectly from animals that eat them. Plants and other photosynthetic organisms are at
12015-478: The internal functions and processes within plant organelles , cells, tissues, whole plants, plant populations and plant communities. At each of these levels, a botanist may be concerned with the classification ( taxonomy ), phylogeny and evolution , structure ( anatomy and morphology ), or function ( physiology ) of plant life. The strictest definition of "plant" includes only the "land plants" or embryophytes , which include seed plants (gymnosperms, including
12150-763: The islands in 1772. The expedition spent some time in Hobart , Van Diemen's Land , and then moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island , and onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart, then went on to Sydney, and the Bay of Islands in New Zealand from 18 August to 23 November 1841. They left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. After spending 138 days at sea, and
12285-399: The king of Sikkim. However, they were released without any bloodshed and Hooker returned to Darjeeling, where he spent January and February 1850 writing his journals, replacing specimens lost during his detention and planning a journey for his last year in India. According to an 1887 journal written by Indian administrator Richard Temple , many of the rhododendrons found in English gardens of
12420-403: The leaf shapes and sizes of ancient land plants . Ozone depletion can expose plants to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation-B (UV-B), resulting in lower growth rates. Moreover, information from studies of community ecology , plant systematics , and taxonomy is essential to understanding vegetation change , habitat destruction and species extinction . Inheritance in plants follows
12555-576: The leaf surface and the molecular diffusion of water vapour and carbon dioxide through stomatal apertures. These developments, coupled with new methods for measuring the size of stomatal apertures, and the rate of photosynthesis have enabled precise description of the rates of gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere. Innovations in statistical analysis by Ronald Fisher , Frank Yates and others at Rothamsted Experimental Station facilitated rational experimental design and data analysis in botanical research. The discovery and identification of
12690-576: The maintenance of biodiversity . Botany originated as herbalism , the study and use of plants for their possible medicinal properties . The early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early botanical works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BCE, Ancient Egypt , in archaic Avestan writings, and in works from China purportedly from before 221 BCE. Modern botany traces its roots back to Ancient Greece specifically to Theophrastus ( c. 371 –287 BCE),
12825-493: The major groups of organisms that carry out photosynthesis , a process that uses the energy of sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars that can be used both as a source of chemical energy and of organic molecules that are used in the structural components of cells. As a by-product of photosynthesis, plants release oxygen into the atmosphere, a gas that is required by nearly all living things to carry out cellular respiration. In addition, they are influential in
12960-474: The mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues . Botanical research has diverse applications in providing staple foods , materials such as timber , oil , rubber, fibre and drugs, in modern horticulture , agriculture and forestry , plant propagation , breeding and genetic modification , in the synthesis of chemicals and raw materials for construction and energy production, in environmental management , and
13095-417: The nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy . The nave extends from the entry—which may have a separate vestibule (the narthex )—to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles separated from the nave by an arcade . If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave, the structure is sometimes said to have three naves. It provides the central approach to
13230-596: The number of their male sexual organs. The 24th group, Cryptogamia , included all plants with concealed reproductive parts, mosses , liverworts , ferns , algae and fungi . Botany was originally a hobby for upper-class women. These women would collect and paint flowers and plants from around the world with scientific accuracy. The paintings were used to record many species that could not be transported or maintained in other environments. Marianne North illustrated over 900 species in extreme detail with watercolor and oil paintings. Her work and many other women's botany work
13365-724: The one who formally presented this material to the Linnean Society meeting in 1858. In 1859 the author of The Origin of Species recorded his indebtedness to Hooker's wide knowledge and balanced judgment. In December 1859, Hooker published the Introductory Essay to the Flora Tasmaniae , the final part of the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage. It was in this essay (which appeared just one month after
13500-447: The other hand with medicine and pharmacology, giving rise to fields such as agronomy , horticultural botany, phytopathology and phytopharmacology . The study of plants is vital because they underpin almost all animal life on Earth by generating a large proportion of the oxygen and food that provide humans and other organisms with aerobic respiration with the chemical energy they need to exist. Plants, algae and cyanobacteria are
13635-404: The outcome of prehistoric selection over thousands of years from among wild ancestral plants with the most desirable characteristics. Botanists study how plants produce food and how to increase yields, for example through plant breeding , making their work important to humanity's ability to feed the world and provide food security for future generations. Botanists also study weeds, which are
13770-791: The pain killer aspirin is the acetyl ester of salicylic acid , originally isolated from the bark of willow trees, and a wide range of opiate painkillers like heroin are obtained by chemical modification of morphine obtained from the opium poppy . Popular stimulants come from plants, such as caffeine from coffee, tea and chocolate, and nicotine from tobacco. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermentation of carbohydrate -rich plant products such as barley (beer), rice ( sake ) and grapes (wine). Native Americans have used various plants as ways of treating illness or disease for thousands of years. This knowledge Native Americans have on plants has been recorded by enthnobotanists and then in turn has been used by pharmaceutical companies as
13905-490: The plants with a highly fermentable sugar or oil content that are used as sources of biofuels , important alternatives to fossil fuels , such as biodiesel . Sweetgrass was used by Native Americans to ward off bugs like mosquitoes . These bug repelling properties of sweetgrass were later found by the American Chemical Society in the molecules phytol and coumarin . Plant ecology is the science of
14040-486: The pollen either fails to reach the stigma or fails to germinate and produce male gametes . This is one of several methods used by plants to promote outcrossing . In many land plants the male and female gametes are produced by separate individuals. These species are said to be dioecious when referring to vascular plant sporophytes and dioicous when referring to bryophyte gametophytes . Charles Darwin in his 1878 book The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilization in
14175-442: The polymer cutin which is found in the plant cuticle that protects land plants from drying out. Plants synthesise a number of unique polymers like the polysaccharide molecules cellulose , pectin and xyloglucan from which the land plant cell wall is constructed. Vascular land plants make lignin , a polymer used to strengthen the secondary cell walls of xylem tracheids and vessels to keep them from collapsing when
14310-786: The post for twenty years. Under the directorship of father and son Hooker, the Royal Botanic gardens of Kew rose to world renown. At the age of thirty, Hooker was elected a fellow of the Royal Society , and in 1873 he was chosen its president (till 1877). He received three of its medals: the Royal Medal in 1854, the Copley in 1887 and the Darwin Medal in 1892. He continued to intersperse work at Kew with foreign exploration and collecting. His journeys to Palestine, Morocco and
14445-443: The practical value of earlier "physic gardens", often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for suspected medicinal uses. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject. Lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe; the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621. German physician Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566)
14580-688: The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species ), that Hooker announced his support for the theory of evolution by natural selection, thus becoming the first recognised man of science to publicly back Darwin. At the historic debate on evolution held at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce , Benjamin Brodie and Robert FitzRoy spoke against Darwin's theory, and Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley defended it. According to Hooker's own account, it
14715-461: The rise of the related molecular-scale biological approaches of molecular biology , genomics , proteomics and metabolomics , the relationship between the plant genome and most aspects of the biochemistry, physiology, morphology and behaviour of plants can be subjected to detailed experimental analysis. The concept originally stated by Gottlieb Haberlandt in 1902 that all plant cells are totipotent and can be grown in vitro ultimately enabled
14850-680: The same fundamental principles of genetics as in other multicellular organisms. Gregor Mendel discovered the genetic laws of inheritance by studying inherited traits such as shape in Pisum sativum ( peas ). What Mendel learned from studying plants has had far-reaching benefits outside of botany. Similarly, " jumping genes " were discovered by Barbara McClintock while she was studying maize. Nevertheless, there are some distinctive genetic differences between plants and other organisms. Species boundaries in plants may be weaker than in animals, and cross species hybrids are often possible. A familiar example
14985-763: The spurs of Kangchenjunga , and north west along Nepal's passes into Tibet . In April 1849 he planned a longer expedition into Sikkim. Leaving on 3 May, he travelled north west up the Lachen Valley to the Kongra Lama Pass and then to the Lachoong Pass . Campbell and Hooker were imprisoned by the Dewan of Sikkim as they travelled towards the Cho La in Tibet. A British team was sent to negotiate with
15120-603: The study of fungi and algae by mycologists and phycologists respectively, with the study of these three groups of organisms remaining within the sphere of interest of the International Botanical Congress . Nowadays, botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 species of land plants , including some 391,000 species of vascular plants (of which approximately 369,000 are flowering plants ) and approximately 20,000 bryophytes . Botany originated in prehistory as herbalism with
15255-450: The study of plants, including methods of optical microscopy and live cell imaging , electron microscopy , analysis of chromosome number , plant chemistry and the structure and function of enzymes and other proteins . In the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis , including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany
15390-471: The study of plants. In 1665, using an early microscope, Polymath Robert Hooke discovered cells (a term he coined) in cork , and a short time later in living plant tissue. During the 18th century, systems of plant identification were developed comparable to dichotomous keys , where unidentified plants are placed into taxonomic groups (e.g. family, genus and species) by making a series of choices between pairs of characters . The choice and sequence of
15525-471: The theory, and responded with notes giving Darwin calm critical feedback. Their correspondence continued throughout the development of Darwin's theory and in 1858 Darwin wrote that Hooker was "the one living soul from whom I have constantly received sympathy". Freeman 1978 wrote "Hooker was Charles Darwin's greatest friend and confidant". Certainly they had extensive correspondence, and they also met face-to-face (Hooker visiting Darwin). Hooker and Lyell were
15660-641: The time were grown from seeds collected by Hooker in Sikkim. Reluctant to return to Sikkim, and unenthusiastic about travelling in Bhutan , he chose to make his last Himalayan expedition to Sylhet and the Khasi Hills in Assam. He was accompanied by Thomas Thomson , a fellow student from Glasgow University. They left Darjeeling on 1 May 1850, then sailed to the Bay of Bengal and travelled overland by elephant to
15795-518: The two people Darwin consulted (by letter) when Alfred Russel Wallace 's famous letter arrived at Down House , enclosing his paper on natural selection. Hooker was instrumental in creating the device whereby the Wallace paper was accompanied by Darwin's notes and his letter to Asa Gray (showing his prior realisation of natural selection) in a presentation to the Linnean Society . Hooker was
15930-526: The use of genetic engineering experimentally to knock out a gene or genes responsible for a specific trait, or to add genes such as GFP that report when a gene of interest is being expressed. These technologies enable the biotechnological use of whole plants or plant cell cultures grown in bioreactors to synthesise pesticides , antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals , as well as the practical application of genetically modified crops designed for traits such as improved yield. Modern morphology recognises
16065-476: The value of the Botanic Gardens has never been seriously questioned. In the midst of this crisis, Hooker was elected as President of the Royal Society in 1873. This showed publicly the high regard which Hooker's fellow scientists had for him, and the great importance they attached to his work. Botanist Botany , also called plant science (or plant sciences ), plant biology or phytology ,
16200-464: The widow of Sir William Jardine . They had two sons: Lady Hooker was elected a Fellow of the RSPB in 1905. Hooker regularly corresponded with the chief government scientist in New Zealand, Sir James Hector . He sent his son Willy (aged 15) to stay in New Zealand with the recently married Hector in 1869, Willy was sickly and coughing up blood, and a warmer climate was recommended. Though well-behaved he
16335-485: The word plant (e.g. plant taxonomy, plant ecology, plant anatomy, plant morphology, plant systematics, plant ecology), or prefixing or substituting the prefix phyto- (e.g. phytochemistry , phytogeography ). The study of fossil plants is palaeobotany . Other fields are denoted by adding or substituting the word botany (e.g. systematic botany ). Phytosociology is a subfield of plant ecology that classifies and studies communities of plants. The intersection of fields from
16470-661: Was assistant to Robert McCormick , who in addition to being the ship's Surgeon was instructed to collect zoological and geological specimens. The ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira , Tenerife , Santiago and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks , Trindade east of Brazil, St Helena , and the Cape of Good Hope . Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae and sea life pulled aboard using tow nets. From
16605-755: Was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at the University of Glasgow graduating with an MD in 1839. His degree qualified him for employment in the Naval Medical Service. He joined the polar explorer Captain James Clark Ross 's Antarctic expedition to the South Magnetic Pole after receiving a commission as Assistant-Surgeon on HMS Erebus . On this expedition, Hooker
16740-613: Was granted full access to the private library of Richard Clement Moody , then Governor of the Falkland Islands . Hooker described the library as 'excellent', and developed a close friendship with Moody. In 1851, he married Frances Harriet Henslow (1825–1874), daughter of Darwin's mentor, John Stevens Henslow . They had three daughters and four sons: Frances Harriet Henslow's contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited. After his first wife's death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine (1842–1921), daughter of William Samuel Symonds and
16875-654: Was greeted in The Times with the prophecy that it would prove "another instance of Mr. Ayrton's unfortunate tendency to carry out what he thinks right in as unpleasant a manner as possible". This was relevant because Kew was funded by the Board of Works, and the Director of Kew reported to the First Commissioner. The conflict between the two men lasted from 1870 to 1872, and there is a voluminous correspondence on
17010-470: Was he and not Huxley who delivered the most effective reply to Wilberforce's arguments. Hooker acted as president of the British Association at its Norwich meeting of 1868, when his address was remarkable for its championship of Darwinian theories. He was a close friend of Thomas Henry Huxley , a member of the X-Club (which dominated the Royal Society in the 1870s and early 1880s), and
17145-520: Was indolent. Hector sent him on a cruise on a Government steamer the Sturt with a son (also 15) of Colonel Haultain the Defence minister. Mrs Hector treated him like a younger brother. After eight months and in better health Hector sent him home to England, saying he had greatly improved. His father was grateful, and surprised when Willy passed the civil service examination. He got an administrative job in
17280-472: Was keen to continue to travel and gain more experience in the field. He wanted to travel to India and the Himalayas . In 1847 his father nominated him to travel to India and collect plants for Kew . In 2011, a collection of glass plate slides of paleontological fossils, some prepared by Darwin, William Nicol and others, which had been lost following Hooker's brief tenure with the Survey, were rediscovered in
17415-399: Was one of "the three German fathers of botany", along with theologian Otto Brunfels (1489–1534) and physician Hieronymus Bock (1498–1554) (also called Hieronymus Tragus). Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification. Physician Valerius Cordus (1515–1544) authored
17550-669: Was placed with the other papers on the case. When Ayrton was questioned about it in the debate led by Lubbock, he replied that "Hooker was too low an official to raise questions of matter with a Minister of the Crown". The outcome was not a vote in the Commons, but a kind of truce until, in August 1874, Gladstone transferred Ayrton from the Board of Works to the office of Judge Advocate-General , just before his government fell. Ayrton failed to get re-elected to Parliament. From that moment to this,
17685-407: Was published, but a number of papers were written. Hooker recognised three phytogeographical divisions: Western Syria and Palestine; Eastern Syria and Palestine; Middle and Upper mountain regions of Syria. Hooker visited Morocco from April to June 1871, in the company of John Ball , George Maw and a young gardener from Kew, called Crump. They published an account of their travels entitled Journal of
17820-586: Was the Flora of British India , published in seven volumes starting in 1872. On the publication of the last part in 1897, he was promoted Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (being made a Knight Commander of that Order in 1877). Ten years later, on attaining the age of ninety in 1907, he was awarded the Order of Merit . He was the author of numerous scientific papers and monographs, and his larger books included, in addition to those already mentioned,
17955-412: Was the beginning of popularizing botany to a wider audience. Increasing knowledge of plant anatomy , morphology and life cycles led to the realisation that there were more natural affinities between plants than the artificial sexual system of Linnaeus. Adanson (1763), de Jussieu (1789), and Candolle (1819) all proposed various alternative natural systems of classification that grouped plants using
18090-471: Was the second son of Maria Sarah Turner, eldest daughter of the banker Dawson Turner and sister-in-law of Francis Palgrave , and the famous botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker , Regius Professor of Botany . From the age of seven, Hooker attended his father's lectures at the University of Glasgow , taking an early interest in plant distribution and the voyages of explorers like Captain James Cook . He
18225-688: Was why in the great mountain chains of the Western United States there appeared to be only a few botanical enclaves of plants of eastern-Asiatic afinities among plants of Mexican and more southern types." Hooker visited a number of cities and botanical institutions before moving west and climbing to 9,000 ft to camp at La Veta . From Fort Garland they climbed the Sierra Blanca at 14,500 ft. After returning to La Veta, they went beyond Colorado Springs to Pike's Peak . Next to Denver and Salt Lake City for an excursion into
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