|
|
Welcome To the World Of Botany
Short Story: Heavenly Garden
HOW TO BECOME A BOTANIST
It is rather strange that we are often told that we must have a dream first to reach a goal. Surprisingly, what we end up in life later on from our most early years of wishes and dreams may not be as expected. I was always good in Mathematics. Scoring 96% in High School goes to show that I had a very good command over the subject. And yes, I also loved the subject. I still love puzzles and math tricks or spending hours working on Sudoku puzzles, but I wanted to be a doctor and a writer.
Medicine never happened when it came to those college years. I was granted admission for the Maths, Physics and Chemistry stream. I still remember how unhappy I was about the choice and reappeared for the next set of admissions to join in for Biology, Physics and Chemistry instead. Deep down, despite the fact that I was very good in Maths, I longed to study Biology. Five years later I graduated in Botany with Zoology and Chemistry as my subsidiary subjects and I have never regretted that choice. A Botanist never happens overnight. It is part of who you are; part of your identity. When we are young we want to be that astronaut who explores into space or we want to be that Florence Nightingale who goes about tending to the sick and making people feel better. Yes, dreams help build us up as..... (click link to read more)
Family Brassicaceae
We take for granted that mustard, cabbage, cauliflower and turnip belong to one family. They all have a similar lineage in a way; all these from the Family Brassicaceae. Sometimes they are referred to as noble blood line dating back to over 3000 years ago, and used by royalty. Mustard has always been a prized commodity and is highly acclaimed for both, its medicinal and culinary benefits. But on the other hand, what is it that makes all these plants be grouped together as one family; what are its common features so to speak?
Family Brassica General Points Of Interest:
The older name of Brassicaceae is Cruciferae. The four petals in the flowers of this family have a cross-like resemblance, and hence the name. It contains about 300 genera and about 3000 species and grows predominantly in temperate regions. There are about 40 species in the genus Brassica. Brassica, a group of plants, known more by their common names, rather than their scientific names are plants which have horticultural and ... (click link to read more)
Family Alliaceae
 One of the simplest families in the plant world to exhibit striking resemblences among members is the Garlic family (Alliaceae). Plants in the Genus Allium include the very famous Onions, Garlic, Shallots, Spring Onions, Leeks and Chives. They are world famous for their undeniable contribution to our daily diet, and are highly acclaimed for their economic and medical attributes.The main interesting factors that brings plants of differing kinds to be group together as one family are based on their morphology and general floral structure, rather than the fruit or the edible structures. While potato is a tuber grown underground, the eggplant or the brinjal and the tomato are grouped together in one family, along with the potato. Likewise, alliums have a special group of plants based on the structure of the plant and the flower.To understand the closeness of this family Alliaceae, let us review a few characters which are like blood-tie to this family.
* Habit and form: Almost all these plants are aromatic (distinct smell) herbs. They are laticiferous (mucus or latex secreting) with secretion generally transparent. They are perennial (plants that live for more than two years) and have leaves from the base in a spiral pattern, emerging in ... (click link to read more)
Fruits Vs Vegetables : What's The Difference?
A fruit is a ripened ovary.
Fruits are a result of fertilization that takes place between the pollen and the egg (present in the ovule) of a flower and which ultimately becomes the edible structure of the plant. The nectar in the fruit is rich in fructose, glucose and sucrose. This later becomes part of the fruit giving it its rich sugar and carbohydrate content making majority of the fruits, by default, sweeter than vegetables. Any other edible vegetative part of the plant other than the fruit is a vegetable. (Leaves as in greens, spinach and mint, bulbs as in onion and garlic, tubers as in potato and tapioca, roots as in carrot and turnip, shoots as in asparagus and bamboo, etc..)
The fruit is made up of the Pericarp and the seed. The Pericarp is ideally the outermost Exocarp, the middle Mesocarp and the inner Endocarp. Their textures may vary from fruit to fruit. The seed is inside the pericarp.
Just like the non-fruit vegetative structure of a plant are divided into root, shoot, leaves, tubers, rhizomes, and corms, likewise, fruits are also divided further based on the structure of the fruit in relation to the seed.
There are two main kinds of fruits, viz. Fleshy fruits and Dry fruits. Fleshy fruits consist of Simple fruits, Aggregate fruits and Multiple fruits based on the formation of the fruit after fertilization of one or many .... (click link to read more)
|
Most Common Plant Name
Which is the most common plant name that people generally choose? |
Some Interesting Topics
True Root Vegetables, believe it or not, are edible vegetative structures that are obtained from the roots of plants. It may be either from the tap root, or from modified lateral roots, but in a broader, "common-man sense", there are also Pseudo Root Vegetables added to the group. This group of vegetables have modified "Stems" which act as storage organs under the ground.
Understanding their source (root or stem) will help us to understand the basis of groups in the True category or the Pseudo (False) category. However, for the argument of the common function they serve (underground storage organs) we will analyse the various types of root vegetables.
Root vegetables are basically storage organs rich in carbohydrates (sugars, starch), dietary fiber, minerals and...
______________________________________ You go to the garden center and grab that Sugar Maple tree. You have the perfect spot picked out for it and it'll look perfect there. You know it's a Sugar Maple because you've seen them growing everywhere since you were a kid. Of course you know what a Sugar Maple looks like even without taking a glance at the label and good thing too. Recognizing plants by sight is great. It makes you a knowledgeable gardener, not just some novice. But maybe you should grab that label and read it anyway before you get to the counter to pay for it. Just humor me.
"Acer Saccharinum" the label says. So, what? Hmm, I hate to tell you this but that's not a Sugar Maple. It is a Maple, yes, but a...
________________________________
|
|
|
|
Zone ManagerHelium member since Jan 26, 09 Education: Indian Institute of Pl... Post Graduate Diploma in Hospital Management |
|
|
Where Have All The Plants Gone
4Shared - Share Everything
|
I hope to make this little patch ot garden space bloom with information about the scientific aspects of plants. Perhaps you could sow a seed of inspiration or water a little sapling of information, or perhaps even harvest in a good crop of plant wonder. Whatever be it, you are welcome to pick up a spade and pitch in. But best of all, I think we could gift each other a bouquet of fresh, sweet smelling friendship, here at the Botany page.
The sunflower always faces toward the sun, no matter where it is in the sky; all sunflowers follow God's sun as it travels overhead. In my life I too follow God's Son, my face always is looking to Him as He leads me through life." (- Sheila Watson Kraklow, Sunflower )
"I am Ipomoea nil, the Morning Glory. Why? For obvious reasons. My true name is Glory (all my friends greet me with a "Morning Glory"), I don't come out til spring (I'm as tropical as they come, being born in the tropics) and I get zapped by frost like any tender annual. Such is life for the Morning Glory". 
Contact
Add as Friend
Jim Bessey
Tina Hartley
Jon Coe
David Elder
Glory Lennon
Shaheen Darr 
Sheila Watson Kraklow
Amanda Dcosta
Petra Newman 
Zone Rating: 50
Comments (1 to 10 of 33)