Plant Tissue Culture PPT

Herbs like all plants have a common English name and an official, valid, Latin name. For example the herb we call sweet basil in English is Ocimum basilium in Latin. Just how was this Latin name determined and why is it used?

It all began in the 18th Century with the work of a Swedish physician and botanist named Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) who ushered in a new era of taxonomy. What is taxonomy? Taxonomy is the process used to define groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. Based on these characteristics Latin names are assigned to groups of these organisms. Until Linnaeus appeared there was chaos and confusion in this naming process for both plants and animals.

Linnaeus with his major works Systema Naturae (First Edition, 1735), Species Plantarum (1753) and Systema Naturae (Tenth Edition, Two Volumes, 1758 and 1759) revolutionized modern taxonomy. His scientific works began a standardized binomial naming system for both plant and animal species. His system proved to be an elegant solution to the chaotic way that plant and animal species had been named. And so the Linnaean system was born.

This system is still used today in much the same way as it was used in the eighteenth century. Presently, plant and animal taxonomists see Linnaeus' work from 1753 and 1758 as the beginning or starting point for valid binomial names. Currently, the system we use gives each plant a name consisting of two Latin words. The first word gives the plant's genus and the second defines its species. This Linnaean system has permitted us to standardize the way plants are identified.

Plants are all classified by their relationships. These relationships are established by shared characteristics, particularly of their reproductive parts. In order to understand these relationships there is a plant classification hierarchy.

At the top of this plant classification hierarchy is the plant kingdom. There are six divisions under the plant kingdom. Under these divisions, there are subdivisions to separate the divisions into classes. Following their separation into classes, they are further subdivided into orders. Next, these plant orders are further divided into even smaller groups to describe their finer differences. First, they are separated into a family. A family groups plants that have related genera. Next, they are classified into a genus. The genus contains plants of related species. Next, these plants are assigned a species. Their species is a group of plants that are alike and naturally breed with each other.

There are further refinements under the species group. A plant may be classified as a hybrid or a cross between two different species. Hybrids can happen in the wild, but more often are the result of accidental or artificial breeding. A hybrid is defined by an "x" appearing before its species name, for example Russian comfrey would be Symphytum x uplandicum.

In addition, variety (var.), subspecies (subsp.), and form (forma, f.) are three more subdivisions within a species or natural hybrid. These three differ in small but clear-cut ways from the typical species type. For example, Symphytum officinale var. ochroleucumis is a white-flowered variant of common comfrey. These natural variants are rare in the wild, but quite common in cultivated plants.

The last is a cultivar. This a desired variant, produced and maintained through cultivation. The plant produced as a cultivar most likely has preferable characteristics such as habitat, color, flavor, resistance to pests, etc. For example, French tarragon, noted for its distinct flavor, is often classified as Artemisa dracunculus 'Sativa' because it was produced as the 'Sativa' cultivar from Russian tarragon, Artemisa dracunculus.

There you have it! Now, you know why herbs and other plants have Latin names, the history of how this happened, and why they are still used today.

Sanford H Kirkland is the owner of SHK Enterprises, LLC the operator of the website http://www.plantyourherbs.com/ Plant Your Herbs. He has been growing, using, and learning about herbs for the past 38 years and is an At-Large Member of the Herb Society of America. Want to learn more about herbs? Then, visit the Plant Your Herbs website, http://www.plantyourherbs.com/ today.

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