Historical Background of Classification

Beginnings by Preliterate Humans

Classification partly based on the useful and harmful properties of plants Use plants for food and medicine Use plants for fish or arrow poisons Use plants for narcotic or hallucinatory purposes

Folk taxonomies – classifications that developed within the society through the need of the society and without scientific efforts

Early Western Civilizations Theophrastus

“Father of Botany” 2 botanical discourses – Enquiry into Plants and The

Causes of Plants Classified plants into 4 major groups – herbs,

undershrubs, shrubs and trees Described approximately 500 different species of

plants Noted many differences in plants – corolla types,

ovary positions, inflorescences, flowering and non-flowering plants, plant tissues

Early Western Civilizations

Caius Plinius Secundus, “Pliny the Elder” Compile an extensive 37-volume

encyclopedia entitled Historia naturalis (Natural History), wherein 9 volumes were devoted to medicinal plants

Early Western Civilizations Pedanios Dioscorides

Roman military surgeon Prepared a book “Materia medica” –describes some

600 species of medicinal plants No drug was recognized genuine unless named in the

book Contained less botany than the works of

Theophrastus, but its usefulness in medicine caused it to be considered the definitive work of plant knowledge until the end of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages During the European Middle Ages, little

progress was made in original scientific study of plants. Wars and decay of the Roman Empire caused the destruction of much literature. Manuscripts were lost at a faster rate than they could be laboriously copied in the newly founded monasteries. Botanical knowledge was largely confined to the previously known works of Theophrastus, Pliny and Dioscorides.

The Middle Ages

Islamic Botany (610 – 1100 AD) Inspired by the works of Aristotle and other

Greek scholars Interests – practical nature, pharmacy,

medicine Produced practical lists of drug plants but

developed no original schemes of classifications

The Middle Ages

Albertus Magnus “Doctor Universalis” His botanical work “De vegetabilis” not only

dealt with medicinal plants but also provided descriptions of plants

Attempted a classification of plants based on the stem structure and the differences between monocots and dicots

Herbalists Renaissance

revival of scientific spirit, invention of printing – 1440 botanical books produced

Herbals – botanical books with descriptions and illustrations made from woodblocks or metal plate engravings; used for identifying medicinal plants

Herbalists – gatherers or diggers of medicinal plants; forged an important link in the evolution of botany and taxonomy as well as in the development of pharmacology (the science of drugs)

Herbalists German Herbalists

Germany in the 16th century was a center of botanical activity

Outstanding contributions in the form of herbals by Otto Brunfels (1464-1534), Jerome Bock (1489-1554), Valerius Cordus (1515-1544), and Leonhard Fuchs (1501-1566). They are sometimes called the “German herbalists”

Herbalists

Herbals of other countries or civilizations English, Dutch, Italian botanists China India Aztecs of Mexico

Botanical gardens – cultivated plants for food, ornamentals, medicine

Badianus Manuscript (1552)

The Italian Renaissance Luca Ghini – inventor of herbarium Andrea Cesalpino – philosophical rather than

utilitarian approach Caspar Bauhin – synonymy of plant names John Ray – classify species in the terms of

morphology and reproduction Joseph Pitton de Tournefort – “Father of genus

concept”