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Introduction
Plants have been studied for thousands of years, but it has only been during the past three centuries that plant biology (botany) evolved into a scientific discipline. Distinct subdivisions, including plant physiology, plant morphology, plant anatomy, plant taxonomy, cytology, genetics, development, ecology, evolution, and molecular biology have emerged. While present-day botanists classify themselves according to their field of botanical specialization, botany was historically an avocation rather than a vocation. Botany as a branch of natural philosophy in the western world can be traced back to Aristotle and his student Theophrastus. The Enquiry into Plants by Theophrastus and the work of his successor, Pedanios Discorides, provided the classical foundation upon which botanists built in the Renaissance.
Purpose: One of the goals of today's lab is to gain an appreciation for the diversity of questions botanists ask and the numerous approaches used to address these questions. Another goal is to gain a historical perspective of how the plant sciences evolved. You may also find a historical comparison of communication styles to be helpful in understanding (and appreciating!) current standards for the written communication in plant biology.
Approach: Our "experimental organisms" for this lab will be books and journals. Specifically we will take advantage of Carleton's Special Collection. You will receive instructions on the proper way to handle older books from Eric Hilleman, the Carleton archivist. Please handle the books with care. Your task is to deduce as much as possible about what botanists did in the last three centuries. Remember to substantiate your conclusions. Below is a list of questions that will help guide your investigation. I've included a list of books, monographs, journals, etc. to help you. Also included in the lab handout is a chronological listing of events reflecting the development of botany in the United States. This overview may help you organize your thoughts. Although your report on your findings should be an individual effort, be sure to share and discuss your findings with each other as you explore these rare books. You will gather far more information if you divide the task of working through these books amongst yourselves and exchange information as you go.
1). What type of questions did botanists ask?
2). How did botanists suppost themselves?
3). How did botanists exchange information?
4). What type of information did they exchange?
5). What type of plants did botanists study?
6). What major subdivisions of botany developed early?
7). For what reasons did people study plants?
8). What type of information was conveyed in botany courses?
9). What type of information is being conveyed on-line today?
Remember, depending on the date of the publication you are examining your answers can vary. Be sure to indicate references and years.
(These are a few I found helpful. Perhaps you will uncover others.)
Journals
Paxton's Magazine of Gardening and Botany (1834-1849) I was amazed by the diversity of information in the 1849 volume I perused. Who wrote the articles? How were species named?
Botanical Garden
Botanical Magazine
Lindenia Iconographia de Orchidees
Books
N. Culpepper (1814) Complete Herbal
Colby's A Guide to Health and Alleyne's A New English Dispensory These reflect advances in the half century after Culpepper.
J. Hill (1756) The British Herbal What was Hill's occupation? Why would he write this book?
Lindley and Paxton (1882) Paxton's Flower Garden Compare this with the multivolume series from the same time period entitled Luther Burbank: His methods and discoveries - their practical applications.
C. Linnaeus (1787) The Families of Plants with their Natural Characters
J.J. Rosseau (1789) Recueil de plantes coloriees. Vol. 38 of Oeuvres completes
J.E. Smith (1821) Correspondence of Linnaeus This should give you some insight into the lives of botanists.
J.D. Whitney (1871) The Yosemite Guide-Book
Texts
A. Eaton (1833_ Manual of Botany How were plants grouped?
A.H. Lincoln (1842) Familiar Lectures on Botany What topics were covered?
Misc.
Folios- Enjoy the intricate paintings and be sure to focus on which details are emphasised. N.J. Jacquin (1797) Hori Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis
R.Warner (1862, reprinted 1975) Orchidaceous Plants
F. Sanders (1888) Reichenbachia
And more on botanical education:-
Check the Carleton College catalogues for 1884-1897.
Three student theses will be available from the early 1900s. The one by May Mowery and the resulting publication should be of special interest. Did you know that Carleton used to offer masters degrees?
After looking at the older literature, look at the most recent issues of plant journals in the Science Library including: Planta, Plant Physiology, American Journal of Botany, Journal of Heredity, Botanical Gazette and any others that catch your eye. You can either peruse the display in the reading area or check out the journals on-line. Now answer the questions posed above based on the information in these journals. Please indicate the specific approaches and questions addressed in each type of journal. How do they compare with Paxton's Magazine of Gardening and Botany?
Your lab write up (essay form) is due by 17:00 Jan. 15 in the Lab One folder in Fabio. Include your findings based on current journals as well as the older texts you examined. Also, be sure to update the key events (see bottom of this page).
1588 Hariot's A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (London) is published. First book in vernacular English devoted to flora and fauna of what is now US.
1600 30 species of plants from US and Canada had been reported growing in European gardens.
1713 400 American plants known in Britain by this year when Bishop Compton died. Compton had been active in their introduction.
1716 First unambiguous account of plant hybrididzation is recorded by Cotton Mather: it involved red and blue kernels of maize.
1735 Experimental gardens for testing subtropical crop plants established near Savannah, Georgia.
1737 Robert Prince established a commercial nursery of eight acres at Flushing, Long Island, which would be in business 130 years.
1767 William Young collected 302 species of Carolina plants and made crude drawings in color.
1768 Adam Kuhn, native of Germantown, Pennsylvania, student of Linnaeus in 1761 became professor of Meteria Medica and Botany in the College of Philadelphia, first professor of botany in the colonies.
1784 Waterhouse gave public lectures in botany and mineralogy at Rhode Island College while a member of Harvard Medical school facutlty. Landreth opened first seed business in US in Philadelphia.
1785 Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture founded. Marshall's Arbustum Americanum; the American Grove published in Philadelphia, the first American imprint devoted expressly to botany.
1792 Mitchill appointed first professor of agriculture (and botany) at Columbia College, New York.
1801 Hosack established Elgin Botanic Garden of twenty acres including native plants and by exchange exotic species from London, Copenhagen, Paris, Florence, British West Indies.
1802 M'Mahon, Philadelphia nurseryman who had arrived in 1796 issued one-page broadside of nursery items. He later sold novelties brought back from the Pacific Northwest by the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
1804 Soybeans first brought to US as ballast
1807 Harvard Botanic Garden established in Cambridge
1819 Acadamy of Natural Sciences founded in Philadelphia. Destined to receive nation's oldest plant collection and to assemble one of its foremost botanical libraries.
1829 Amherst College established the second institutional herbarium in the US.
1842 Gray published first edition of his Botanical Text-Book.
1861 Engelmann published the first paper on plant pathology in the US.
1862 Lincoln signed Morrill Act which distributed 13,000,000 acres of public domain to states for establishment and maintainance of land-grant colleges, favoring "the agricultural and mechanic arts." Botanical courses were prominant in their curricula.
1873 Navel oranges introduced from Brazil
1874 Botanical Gazette founded.
1885 First physiological botany text published
1893 L.H. Barley published first detailed study of growth of plants under artificial light.
1896 New York Botanical Garden established.
1907 First university department of plant pathology established at Cornell.
1920 Garner and Allard published their classic paper on photoperiodic effects on growth and reproduction of plants.
1936 Growth chamber developed at Boyce Thompson Institute.
1937 Thimann investigated role of auxin in plant growth.
1946 Stanley awarded Nobel Prize for work on molecular nature of tobacco mosaic virus.
1949 Went first used fluorescent light on an extensive scale for plant experimentation at California Institute of Technology.
1950 Stebbins published Variation and Evolution in Plants.
1959 Hendricks and colleagues discovered phytochrome.
1963 Plant hormone abscissic acid isolated and synthesized independently in US and England.
(Adapted from J.A. Ewan (1969) Botany in the United States)
Bring this time line up to date.
Here is a history of botany that you may have fun reading
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