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Fruit

Fruit

In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary—together with seeds—of a flowering plant. In many species, the fruit incorporates the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds. Evolution has led plants to adopt certain basic mechanisms, seemingly without close regard to the tissues involved. No one terminology really fits the enormous variety that is found among plant fruits. Botanical terminology for fruits is inexact and will remain so. In cuisine, when discussing fruit as food, the term usually refers to just those plant fruits that are sweet and fleshy, examples of which include plum, apple and orange. However, a great many common vegetables, as well as nuts and grains, are the fruit of the plant species they come from. The term false fruit (pseudocarp, accessory fruit) is sometimes applied to a fruit like the fig (a multiple-accessory fruit; see below) or to a plant structure that resembles a fruit but is not derived from a flower or flowers. Some gymnosperms, such as yew, have fleshy arils that resemble fruits and some junipers have berry-like, fleshy cones. With most fruits pollination is a vital part of fruit culture, and the lack of knowledge of pollinators and pollenizers can contribute to poor crops or poor quality crops. In a few species, the fruit may develop in the absence of pollination/fertilization, a process known as parthenocarpy. Such fruits are seedless. A plant that does not produce fruit is known as acarpous, meaning essentially "without fruit".

Botanic fruits and culinary fruits

Many foods are botanically a fruit, but are treated as vegetables in cooking. These include cucurbits (e.g. squash and pumpkin), maize, tomatoes, cucumber, aubergines (eggplants) and green peppers, along with nuts, and some spices, such as allspice, nutmeg and chiles. Rarely, culinary "fruits" are not fruits in the botanical sense. For example, rhubarb may be considered a fruit, though only the astringent stalk, or petiole, is edible. In the commercial world, European Union rules define carrot as a fruit for the purposes of measuring the proportion of "fruit" contained in carrot jam.

Fruit development

After an ovule is fertilized in a process known as pollination, the ovary begins to expand. The petals of the flower fall off and the ovule develops into a seed. The ovary eventually comes to form, along with other parts of the flower in many cases, a structure surrounding the seed or seeds that is the fruit. Fruit development continues until the seeds have matured. With some multiseeded fruits the extent of development of the flesh of the fruit is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The wall of the fruit, developed from the ovary wall of the flower, is called the pericarp. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp (outer layer - also called epicarp), mesocarp (middle layer), and endocarp (inner layer). In some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower (such as the floral tube, including the petals, sepals, and stamens), fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit. Since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. Fruits are so varied in form and development, that it is difficult to devise a classification scheme that includes all known fruits. It will also be seen that many common terms for seeds and fruit are incorrectly applied, a fact that complicates understanding of the terminology. Seeds are ripened ovules; fruits are the ripened ovularies or carpels that contain the seeds. To these two basic definitions can be added the clarification that in botanical terminology, a nut is a type of fruit and not another term for seed. There are three basic types of fruits: # Simple fruit # Aggregate fruit # Multiple fruit

Simple fruit

Simple fruits can be either dry or fleshy and result from the ripening of a simple or compound ovary with only one pistil. Dry fruits may be either dehiscent (opening to discharge seeds), or indehiscent (not opening to discharge seeds). Types of dry, simple fruits (with examples) are:
- achene - (buttercup)
- capsule - (Brazil nut)
- caryopsis - (wheat)
- fibrous drupe - (coconut, walnut)
- follicle - (milkweed)
- legume - (pea, bean, peanut)
- loment
- nut - (hazelnut, beech, oak acorn)
- samara - (elm, ash, maple key)
- schizocarp - (carrot)
- silique - (radish)
- utricle Fruits in which part or all of the pericarp (fruit wall) is fleshy at maturity are simple fleshy fruits. Types of fleshy, simple fruits (with examples) are:
- berry - (tomato, avocado)
- drupe - (plum, cherry, peach, olive)
- false berry - accessory fruits (banana, cranberry)
- pome - accessory fruits (apple, pear, rosehip)

Aggregate fruit

rosehip An aggregate fruit, or etaerio, develops from a flower with numerous simple pistils. An example is the raspberry, whose simple fruits are termed drupelets because each is like a small drupe attached to the receptacle. In some bramble fruits (such as blackberry) the receptacle is elongate and part of the ripe fruit, making the blackberry an aggregate-accessory fruit. The strawberry is also an aggregate-accessory fruit, only one in which the seeds are contained in achenes. In all these examples, the fruit develops from a single flower with numerous pistils.

Multiple fruit

A multiple fruit is one formed from a cluster of flowers (called an inflorescence). Each flower produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. Examples are the pineapple, edible fig, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfruit. breadfruit In the photograph on the right, stages of flowering and fruit development in the noni or Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia) can be observed on a single branch. First an inflorescence of white flowers called a head is produced. After fertilization, each flower develops into a drupe, and as the drupes expand, they connate (merge) into a multiple fleshy fruit called a syncarp.

Seedless Fruits

Seedlessness is an important feature of some fruits of commerce. Commercial cultivars of bananas and pineapples are seedless. Some cultivars of citrus fruits (especially navel oranges and mandarin oranges), table grapes, grapefruit, and watermelons are valued for their seedlessness. In some species, seedlessness is the result of parthenocarpy, where fruits set without fertilization. Parthenocarpic fruit set may or may not require pollination. Most seedless citrus fruits require a pollination stimulus; bananas and pineapples do not. Seedlessness in table grapes results from the abortion of the embryonic plant that is produced by fertilization, a phenomenon known as stenospermocarpy which requires normal pollination and fertilization.

Seed dissemination

Variations in fruit structures largely relate to dissemination (called dispersal) of the seeds they contain. Some fruits have coats covered with spikes or hooked burrs, either to prevent themselves from being eaten by animals or to stick to the hairs of animals, using them as dispersal agents. Other fruits are elongated and flattened out naturally and so become thin, like wings or helicopter blades. This is an evolutionary mechanism to increase dispersal distance away from the parent.

Uses

Many fruits, including fleshy fruits like apple and mango, and nuts like walnut, are commercially valuable as human food, eaten both fresh and made into jams, marmalade and other preserves for future consumption. Fruits are also found commonly in such manufactured foods as cookies, muffins, yoghurt, ice cream, cakes, and many more.

See also


- List of fruits
- Fruit trees
- Tutti frutti
- Fruitarianism types00 Category: botany Category: plant morphology ko:열매 ja:果物 simple:Fruit zh-min-nan:Kóe-chí

Botany

:For other meanings, see Botany (disambiguation) Botany is the scientific study of plant life. As a branch of biology, it is also sometimes referred to as plant science(s) or plant biology. Botany covers a wide range of scientific disciplines that study the growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, ecology, and evolution of plants. plants

Scope and motivation of botany

As with other life forms in biology, plant life can be studied at a variety of levels, from the molecular, genetic and biochemical level through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, plant populations, and communities of plants. At each of these levels a botanist might be concerned with the classification (taxonomy), structure (anatomy), or function (physiology) of plant life. Botanists studied all organisms that were not generally regarded as animal. Some of these "plant-like" organisms include: fungi (studied in mycology); bacteria and viruses (studied in microbiology); and algae (studied in phycology). Most algae, fungi, and microbes are no longer considered to be in the plant kingdom. However, attention is still given to them by botanists; and bacteria, fungi, and algae are usually covered, somewhat superficially, in introductory botany courses. So why study plants? Plants are an utterly fundamental part of life on earth. They generate the oxygen, food, fibres, fuel and medicine that allow higher life forms to exist. While doing all this, plants also absorb carbon dioxide, a significant greenhouse gas, through photosynthesis. A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of human societies as it allows us to:
- Feed the world
- Understand fundamental life processes
- Utilise medicine and materials
- Understand environmental changes

Feed the world

Virtually all of the food we eat comes from plants, either directly from staple foods and other fruit and vegetables, or indirectly through livestock, which rely on plants for fodder. In other words, plants are at the base of nearly all food chains, or what ecologists call the first trophic level. Understanding how plants produce the food we eat is therefore important to be able to feed the world and provide food security for future generations, for example through plant breeding. Not all plants are beneficial to humans, weeds are a considerable problem in agriculture and botany provides some of the basic science in order to understand how to minimise their impact. Ethnobotany is the study of this and other relationships between plants and people. Ethnobotany

Understand fundamental life processes

Plants are convenient organisms in which fundamental life processes (like cell division and protein synthesis for example) can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals or humans. The genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by Gregor Mendel, who was studying the way pea shape is inherited. While at Mendel learnt from studying plants has had far reaching benefits outside of botany. Additionally, Barbara McClintock discovered 'jumping genes' by studying maize. These are a few examples that demonstrate how botanical research has an ongoing relevance to the understanding of fundamental biological processes.

Utilise medicine and materials

Many of our medicinal and recreational drugs, like cannabis, caffeine, and nicotine come directly from the plant kingdom. Aspirin, which originally came from the bark of willow trees, is just one example. There may be many novel cures for diseases provided by plants, waiting to be discovered. Popular stimulants like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, and tea also come from plants. Most alcoholic beverages come from fermenting plants such as hops and grapes. Plants also provide us with many natural materials, such as cotton, wood, paper, linen, vegetable oils, some types of rope, and rubber. The production of silk would not be possible without the cultivation of the mulberry plant. Sugarcane and other plants have recently been put to use as sources of biofuels, which are important alternatives to fossil fuels.

Understand environmental changes

Plants can also help us understand changes in on our environment in many ways.
- Understanding habitat destruction and species extinction is dependent on an accurate and complete catalogue of plant systematics and taxonomy.
- Plant responses to ultraviolet radiation can help us monitor problems like the holes in the ozone layer.
- Analysing pollen deposited by plants thousands or millions of years ago can help scientists to reconstruct past climates and predict future ones, an essential part of climate-change research.
- Recording and analysing the timing of plant life cycles are important parts of phenology used in climate-change research.
- Lichens, which are sensitive to atmospheric conditions, have been extenisvely used as pollution indicators. So, in many different ways, plants can act a bit like the 'miners canary', an early warning system alerting us to important changes in our environment. In addition to these practical and scientific reasons, plants are extremely valuable as recreation for millions of people who enjoy gardening, horticultural and culinary uses of plants every day. Botanists also argue that botany is fascinating and rewarding topic of study in its own right.

History

Early botany (before 1945)

culinary Among the earliest of botanical works, written around 300 BC, are two large treatises by Theophrastus: On the History of Plants (Historia Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants. Together these books constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and on into the Middle Ages. The Roman medical writer Dioscorides provides important evidence on Greek and Roman knowledge of medicinal plants. In 1665, using an early microscope, Robert Hooke discovered cells in cork, a short time later in living plant tissue. The German Leonhart Fuchs, the Swiss Conrad von Gesner, and the British authors Nicholas Culpeper and John Gerard published herbals that gave information on the medicinal uses of plants.

Modern botany (since 1945)

A considerable amount of new knowledge today is being generated from studying model plants like Arabidopsis thaliana. This mustard weed was one of the first plants to have its genome sequenced. Other more commercially important plants like rice, wheat, maize and soybean are also having their genomes sequenced, although some of these are more challenging because they have more than two haploid (n) sets of chromosomes, a condition known as polyploidy. The "Green Yeast" Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (a single-celled, green alga) is another plant model organism that has been extensively studied and provided important insights into cell biology.

See also


- Agriculture
- Biology
- Botanical garden and List of botanical gardens
- Dendrochronology
- Domesticated plants and List of domesticated plants
- Ethnobotany
- Flowers and List of flowers
- Forestry
- Fruit
- Gardening
- Herbs
- Horticulture
- List of botanical journals
- List of botanists
- List of notable medicinal plants
- List of plant science research institutions
- List of publications in biology
- Paleobotany
- Plants
- Plant community
- Plant sexuality
- Seeds, Germination and Stratification.
- Soil science
- Spices
- Trees
- Vegetables and List of vegetables
- Vegetation
-
- Bellamy, D Bellamy on Botany, ISBN 0563106662 an accessible and short introduction to various botanical subjects
- Capon, B: Botany for Gardeners ISBN 0881926558
- Cohen, J. How many people can the earth support? W.W. Norton 1995 ISBN 0393314952
- Halle, Francis. In praise of plants ISBN 0881925500. English translation of a poetic advocacy of plants.
- King, J. Reaching for the sun: How plants work ISBN 0521587387. A fluent introduction to how plants work.
- Pakenham, T: Remarkable Trees of the World (2002) ISBN 0297843001
- Pakenham, T: Meetings with Remarkable Trees (1996) ISBN 0297832557
- Pollan, M The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-eye View of the World Bloomsbury ISBN 0747563004 Account of the co-evolution of plants and humans
- Thomas, B.A.: The evolution of plants and flowers St Martin's Press 1981 ISBN 0312272715
- Walker, D. Energy, Plants and Man ISBN 1870232054 A presentation of the basic concepts of photosynthesis

Academic and Scientific books on Botany


- Agrios, G. N. (1997). Plant pathology. 4th ed. Academic Press. ISBN 012044564
- Blankenship, R.E. (2002) Molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis. Blackwell Science ISBN 0632043210
- Briggs, D. & Walters, S. M. Plant variation and evolution 3rd ed. C.U.P. 1997 ISBN 0521459184
- Buchanan, B.B., Gruissem, W & Jones, R.L. (2000) Biochemistry & molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiologists ISBN 0943088399
- Crawford, R. M. M. (1989). Studies in plant survival. Blackwell. ISBN 063201475X
- Crawley, M. J. (1997). Plant ecology. Blackwell Scientific. ISBN 0632036397
- Ennos, R and Sheffield, E Plant life, Blackwell Science, ISBN 0865427372 Introduction to plant biodiversity
- Fitter, A & Hay, R Environmental physiology of plants 3rd edition Sept 2001 Harcourt Publishers, Academic Press ISBN 0122577663
- Howell, S. (1998) Molecular genetics of plant development Cambridge University Press 1998 ISBN 0521587840
- Hull,R. (ed) Matthews' plant virology. 4th ed. Harcourt Academic Press, October 2001. ISBN 0123611601
- Lawlor, D.W. (2000) Photosynthesis BIOS ISBN 1859961576
- Marschner, H. (1995). Mineral nutrition of higher plants. 2nd ed. Academic Press. ISBN 0124735436
- Matthews, R. E. F. Fundamentals of plant virology Academic Press,1992.
- Mauseth, J.D.: Botany : an introduction to plant biology. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, ISBN 0763721344 - A first year undergraduate level textbook
- Nobel, P. S. Physiochemical and environmental plant physiology AcademicPress 1999. ISBN 0125200250
- Raven, P.H, Evert R.H and Eichhorn, S.E: Biology of Plants, Freeman. ISBN 1572590416 - A first year undergraduate level textbook
- Richards, P. W. (1996). The tropical rainforest. 2nd ed. C.U.P. (Pbk) ISBN 0521421942 £32.50
- Ridge, I. (2002) Plants Oxford University Press ISBN 0199255482
- Salisbury, FB and Ross, CW: Plant physiology Wadsworth publishing company ISBN 0534151620
- Stace, C. A. A new flora of the British Isles. 2nd ed. C.U.P.,1997. ISBN 0521589355
- Strange, R. L. Introduction to plant pathology. Wiley-VCH, 2003. ISBN 0470849738
- Taiz, L. & Zeiger, E. (1998). Plant physiology. 3rd ed. August 2002 Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0878938230
- Walter, H. (1985). Vegetation of the earth. 3rd rev. ed. Springer.
- Whitmore, T. C. (1998) An introduction to tropical rain forests. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198501471
- Willis, K (2002) The evolution of plants Oxford University Press ISBN 0198500653 £22-99

External links


- [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PlantTissues.html Plant tissues], [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PlantGrowth.html plant growth] and [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/PlantCell.html the plant cell] from [http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/ Kimball's Biology Pages]
- [http://www.botany.org/newsite/botany/ Botanical Society of America: What is Botany?]
- [http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/index.htm Science and Plants for Schools]
- [http://textbook.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botany A Study Guide to the Science of Botany] ~ at Wikibooks
- [http://www.aspb.org/aboutus/ American society of plant biologists APSB]
- [http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/plantsci/about/why.html Why study Plants? Dept of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge]
- [http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/ Botany Photo of the Day]
- David Attenborough - The Private Life of Plants
- Flora and other catalogues or databases of plants
  - [http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/www-vl/ The Virtual Library of Botany]
  - [http://wikisource.org/wiki/NVC-National_Vegetation_Classification%2C_UK_representative_plant_species List of major natural Plant Species in the UK, described in the National Vegetation Classification]
  - [http://www.kulak.ac.be/bioweb/ High quality pictures of plants and information about them] from Catholic University of Leuven
  - [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/QK1xC981/ Curtis's Botanical Magazine], 1790-1856
  - [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/QK488xE4/ The Trees Of Great Britain and Ireland], by Henry John Elwes & Augustine Henry, 1906-1913
  - [http://www.pflanzen-portal.com Botanik-Datenbank] (ger.)
- [http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/mineralogie/palbot/teach/botanyteach.html Teaching Documents about Botany] Teaching documents, lecture notes and tutorials online: an annotated link directory.
- ko:식물학 ja:植物学 simple:Botany th:พฤกษศาสตร์

Ripen

Ripening is a process in fruit that causes them to become more edible. In general, fruits get sweeter, less acidic, less green and softer as they ripen. Stages of a plant's life, like a human's, are influenced by hormones. These are often connected to pollination. If too few seeds in a multiseeded fruit are formed (by fertilization of the ovules), the flesh of the fruit may not develop in some areas, and ripening will be retarded or prevented. Fruit growers increasingly monitor seed ratios in forming and/or mature fruit and adjust pollination management accordingly. An important plant hormone involved with ripening is the chemical ethylene. Ethylene is a gas created by plants from the amino acid methionine, and can easily be created synthetically. Ethylene causes increased levels of certain enzymes in the fruit. These enzymes include:
- amylase, which breaks down starch to produce simple sugars.
- pectinase breaks down pectin, the substance that keeps fruit hard. Many fruits are picked prior to full ripening, because ripened fruits do not ship well. For example bananas are picked green, and then gassed with ethylene after shipment, so they can be artificially ripened. It is also possible to speed ripening at home. For example, kiwifruit are often slow to finish ripening, and ripening can be hastened by placing the fruit in a bag with an apple, which gives off natural ethylene gas. Ethylene gas can also cause damage. If apples are stored with potatoes that have not been treated to prevent sprouting, the gas given off by the apples will cause the potatoes to sprout wildly. Other enzymes break down the green pigment chlorophyll, which is replaced by other coloured pigments such as blue, yellow or red. Category:Horticulture various terms

Ovary

Ovaries are egg-producing reproductive organs found in female organisms.

Mammalian ovary

Ovaries are part of the vertebrate female reproductive system. Normally, a female will have two ovaries, each performing two major functions: producing eggs and secreting hormones. Ovaries in females are homologous to testes in males. Most birds have only one functioning ovary; snakes have two, one in front of the other. As female mammals develop within the womb, each ovary develops a number of immature eggs associated with groups of other cells called follicles. While mammals were thought to develop their entire supply of eggs prenatally and soon after birth, new evidence from laboratory mice has called this into question, showing that female mice in fact produce new eggs throughout their reproductive lifetime. However, there is no direct evidence showing that human females produce new eggs after birth. As the animal (or person) becomes reproductively mature (the process called puberty in humans), eggs will periodically mature and be released from the ovary (a process called ovulation) so that they will be available for fertilization by sperm. A fertilized egg resulting from union with a sperm becomes a zygote and then an embryo as it develops. embryo Animal and human ovaries also produce various steroid and peptide hormones. Estrogen and progesterone are the most important of these in mammals. These hormones induce and maintain the physical changes of puberty and the secondary sex characteristics. They support maturation of the uterine endometrium in preparation of implantation of a fertilized egg. They provide signals to the hypothalamus and pituitary that help maintain the menstrual cycle. Estrogen plays an important role in maintaining subcutaneous fat, bone strength, and some aspects of brain function. In humans, an egg launched from an ovary has to traverse a slight space before entering the fallopian tube and moving gradually down to the uterus. If fertilized, it implants itself into the lining of the uterus and develops as the pregnancy continues. If the fertilized egg settles into the fallopian tube instead of the uterus an ectopic pregnancy will result. Ectopic pregnancy can also happen if a fertilized egg settles onto the cervix or onto the ovary itself, or if a fertilized egg passes through the gap between the ovary and the fallopian tube into the abdomen. If the egg fails to release from the follicle in the ovary an ovarian cyst may form. Small ovarian cysts are common in healthy women but large cysts can be an advanced manifestation of polycystic ovary syndrome. See also: Oophorectomy, polycystic ovary syndrome, Turner syndrome, hypogonadism, menopause, ovum, ovarian cancer, corpus luteum, cervix, penis

Flowering plant ovary

penis In the flowering plants, an ovary is the part of the carpel which holds the ovule(s). After pollination, the ovary will grow into the fruit, while the ovule(s) become the seed(s). Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries. The carpels together are called gynoecium. Category:Endocrine system Category:Gynecology Category:Reproductive system Category:Pelvis Category:plant morphology ja:卵巣

Flowering plant

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots
The flowering plants (also called angiosperms) are a major group of land plants. They comprise one of the two groups in the seed plants: the flowering plants cover their seeds by including them in a true fruit. They bear the reproductive organs in a structure called a flower; the ovule is enclosed within a carpel, which will lead to a fruit. In the other major group of seed plants, called gymnosperms, the ovule is not enclosed at pollination and the seeds are not in a true fruit, although occasionally fleshy structures may cover the seed (e.g. Taxus).

History

The botanical term "Angiosperm" (Greek: αγγειον, receptacle, and σπερμα, seed) was coined in the form Angiospermae by Paul Hermann in 1690, as the name of that one of his primary divisions of the plant kingdom, which included flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, in contradistinction to his Gymnospermae, or flowering plants with achenial or schizo-carpic fruits—the whole fruit or each of its pieces being here regarded as a seed and naked. The term and its antonym were maintained by Carolus Linnaeus with the same sense, but with restricted application, in the names of the orders of his class Didynamia. Its use with any approach to its modern scope only became possible after Robert Brown had established in 1827 the existence of truly naked ovules in the Cycadeae and Coniferae, entitling them to be correctly called Gymnosperms. From that time onwards, so long as these Gymnosperms were, as was usual, reckoned as dicotyledonous flowering plants, the term Angiosperm was used antithetically by botanical writers, but with varying limitation, as a group-name for other dicotyledonous plants. The advent in 1851 of Hofmeister's brilliant discovery of the changes proceeding in the embryo-sac of flowering plants, and his determination of the correct relationships of these with the Cryptogamia, fixed the position of Gymnosperms as a class distinct from Dicotyledons, and the term Angiosperm then gradually came to be accepted as the suitable designation for the whole of the flowering plants other than Gymnosperms, and as including therefore the classes of Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. This is the sense in which the term is nowadays received and in which it is used here.

Origins

The trend of the evolution of the plant kingdom has been in the direction of the establishment of a vegetation of fixed habit and adapted to the vicissitudes of a life on land, and the Angiosperms are the highest expression of this evolution and constitute the dominant vegetation of the earth's surface at the present epoch. There is no land-area from the poles to the equator, where plant-life is possible, upon which Angiosperms are not found. They also occur abundantly in the shallows of rivers and fresh-water lakes, and in less number in salt lakes and in the sea; such aquatic Angiosperms are not, however, primitive forms, but are derived from immediate land-ancestors. Associated with this diversity of habitat is great variety in general form and manner of growth. The familiar duckweed which covers the surface of a pond consists of a tiny green "thalloid" shoot, one, that is, which shows no distinction of parts—stem and leaf, and a simple root growing vertically downwards into the water. The great forest-tree has a shoot, which in the course perhaps of hundreds of years, has developed a wide-spreading system of trunk and branches, bearing on the ultimate twigs or branchlets innumerable leaves, while beneath the soil a widely-branching root-system covers an area of corresponding extent. Between these two extremes is every conceivable gradation, embracing aquatic and terrestrial herbs, creeping, erect or climbing in habit, shrubs and trees, and representing a much greater variety than is to be found in the other subdivision of seed-plants, the Gymnosperms. The first evidence of angiosperms appears in the fossil record approximately 140 million years ago, during the Jurassic period (203-135 million years ago). Based on current evidence, it seems that the ancestors of the angiosperms and the Gnetophytes diverged from one another during the late Triassic (220-202 million years ago). Fossil plants with some identifiable angiosperm characteristics appear in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous (135-65 million years ago), but in relatively few and primitive forms. The great angiosperm radiation, when a great diversity of angiosperms appear in the fossil record, occurred in the mid-Cretaceous (approximately 100 million years ago). By the late Cretaceous, angiosperms appear to have become the predominant group of land plants, and many fossil plants recognizable as belonging to modern families (including beech, oak, maple, and magnolia) appeared.

Classification

The flowering plants are usually treated as a division. As this is a group above the rank of family there is a free choice of name: Art 16 of the ICBN allows either a descriptive name or a name based on a generic name. The favorite name in the latter category is Magnoliophyta (at the rank of division, based on the Magnolia. The most popular descriptive name is Angiospermae (Angiosperms), with Anthophyta ("flowering plants") a second choice. The internal classification of this group has undergone considerable revision as ideas about their relationships change. The Cronquist system, proposed by Arthur Cronquist in 1981, is still widely used but is no longer believed to reflect phylogeny. A general consensus about how the flowering plants should be arranged has only recently begun to emerge, through the work of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, who published an influential reclassification of the angiosperms in 1998. An update incorporating more recent research was published as APG (2003) and is available at the Wikipedia Tree of Life/Update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Traditionally, the flowering plants are divided into two groups, which in the Cronquist system are called Magnoliopsida (at the rank of class, based on Magnolia) and Liliopsida (at the rank of class, based on Lilium). Much more popular are their descriptive names (as allowed by Art 16 of the ICBN): Dicotyledones (some prefer Dicotyledoneae) and Monocotyledones (some prefer Monocotyledoneae), which have been in use for very long. In English a member of either group may be called a "dicotyledon" (plural "dicotyledons") and "monocotyledon" (plural "monocotyledons"), or more popularly "dicot" (plural "dicots") and "monocot" (plural "monocots"). These names derive from the fact that the dicots often (but not always) have two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) within each seed, while the monocots typically will have one only. From a diagnostic point of view the number of cotyledons is neither a particularly handy nor reliable character. Recent studies show that the monocots are a "good" group (a holophyletic or monophyletic group), while the dicots are not (a paraphyletic group). However, within the dicots a "good" group exists, which includes most of the dicots. This new group is semi-informally called the "eudicots" or "tricolpates". The name "tricolpates" derives from the type of pollen found throughout this group. The name eudicots is formed by preceding "dicot" by the prefix "eu-" (greek 'eu'= "true"), as the eudicots share the characters traditionally attributed to the dicots, such a four- or five-merous flowers. The uninitiate may be tempted to jump to the conclusion that "eudicot" is short for "eudicotyledon" but it is not: the name is eudicot. A formal name that is sometimes used for this group is Rosopsida (at the rank of class, based on Rosa). Separating this group of eudicots from the rest of the (former) dicots leaves a remainder, which sometimes are called informally "palaeodicots" (the prefix "palaeo-" means old, and derives from the classic greek). As this remainder group is not a "good" group this is a term of convenience only.

Families of flowering plants

The most diverse families of flowering plants, in order of number of species, are: palaeodicot flower]] # Asteraceae or Compositae (Daisy family): 26,000 species # Orchidaceae (Orchid family): 20,000 (possibly 30,000) # Fabaceae or Leguminosae (Pea family): 17,000 # Poaceae or Gramineae (Grass family): 9,000 # Rubiaceae (Madder family): 7,000 # Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family): 5,000 # Malvaceae (Mallow family): 4,300 # Cyperaceae (Sedge family): 4,000 In the list above (showing only the 8 largest families), the Orchidaceae, Poaceae, and Cyperaceae are monocot families; the others are dicot families. The total number of families in the flowering plants is over 460.

Internal structure

In internal structure the variety of tissue-formation far exceeds that found in Gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem belong to the collateral type, that is to say, the elements of the wood or xylem and the bast or phloem stand side by side on the same radius. In the larger of the two great groups into which the Angiosperms are divided, the Dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue, known as cambium; by the formation of a layer of cambium between the bundles (interfascicular cambium) a complete ring is formed, and a regular periodical increase in thickness results from it by the development of xylem on the inside and phloem on the outside. The soft phloem soon becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists, and forms the great bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Owing to differences in the character of the elements produced at the beginning and end of the season, the wood is marked out in transverse section into concentric rings, one for each season of growth—the so-called annual rings. In the smaller group, the Monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the young stem and scattered through the ground tissue. Moreover they contain no cambium and the stem once formed increases in diameter only in exceptional cases.

Vegetative organs

As in Gymnosperms, branching is monopodial; dichotomy or the forking of the growing point into two equivalent branches which replace the main stem, is absent both in the case of the stem and the root. The leaves show a remarkable variety in form, but are generally small in comparison with the size of the plant; exceptions occur in some Monocotyledons, e.g. in the Aroid family, where in some genera the plant produces one huge, much-branched leaf each season. In rare cases the main axis is unbranched and ends in a flower, as, for instance, in the tulip, where scale-leaves, forming the underground bulb, green foliage-leaves and coloured floral leaves are borne on one and the same axis. Generally, flowers are formed only on shoots of a higher order, often only on the ultimate branches of a much branched system. A potential branch or bud, either foliage or flower, is formed in the axil of each leaf; sometimes more than one bud arises, as for instance in the walnut, where two or three stand in vertical series above each leaf. Many of the buds remain dormant, or are called to development under exceptional circumstances, such as the destruction of existing branches. For instance, the clipping of a hedge or the lopping of a tree will cause to develop numerous buds which may have been dormant for years. Leaf-buds occasionally arise from the roots, when they are called adventitious; this occurs in many fruit trees, poplars, elms and others. For instance, the young shoots seen springing from the ground around an elm are not seedlings but root-shoots. Frequently, as in many Dicotyledons, the primary root, the original root of the seedling, persists throughout the life of the plant, forming, as often in biennials, a thickened tap-root, as in carrot, or in perennials, a much-branched root system. In many Dicotyledons and most Monocotyledons, the primary root soon perishes, and its place is taken by adventitious roots developed from the stem.

The flower, fruit, and seed


- See main article: Flower The characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower, which shows remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provides the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species. The function of the flower is that of ensuring fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf. Occasionally, as in violet, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. However, more typically, the flower-bearing portion of the plant is sharply distinguished from the foliage-bearing or vegetative portion, and forms a more or less elaborate branch-system called an inflorescence. As in gymnosperms, spores produced by flowers are of two kinds: microspores or pollen-grains, borne in the stamens (or microsporophylls) and megaspores, in which the egg-cell is developed, contained in the ovule and enclosed in the carpel (or megasporophyll). The flower may consist only of these spore-bearing parts, as in willow, where each flower comprises only a few stamens or two carpels. Usually, however, other structures are present and serve both to protect the sporophylls and to form an attractive envelope. The individual members of these surrounding structures are called sepals and petals (or tepals in a flower such as Michelia). The outer series (calyx of sepals) is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, especially in the bud. The inner series (corolla of petals) is generally white or brightly coloured, and more delicate in structure, and functions in attracting a particular insect or bird by agency of which pollination is effected. This attraction involves colour and scent, and frequently also nectar which is secreted in some part of the flower. These characteristics that attract pollinators account for the popularity of flowers and flowering plants among humans.

Flowering plant sexuality


- See main article: Plant sexuality Flowers are the reproductive structures of flowering plants. The "male" organ is the stamen or androecium, which produces pollen (male spores) in anthers. The "female" organ is the carpel or gynoecium, which contains the egg (female gamete) and is the site of fertilization. While the majority of flowers are perfect or hermaphrodite (having both male and female parts in the same flower structure), flowering plants have developed numerous morphological and physiological mechanisms to reduce or prevent self-fertilization. Heteromorphic flowers have short carpels and long stamens, or vice versa, so animal pollinators cannot easily transfer pollen to the pistil (receptive part of the carpel). Homomorphic flowers may employ a biochemical (physiological) mechanism called self-incompatibility to discriminate between self- and non-self pollen grains. In other species, the male and female parts are morphologically separated, developing on different flowers.

Fertilization

At the period of fertilization the embryo-sac lies in close proximity to the opening of the micropyle, into which the pollen-tube has penetrated, the separating cell-wall becomes absorbed, and the male or sperm-cells are ejected into the embryo-sac. Guided by the synergidae one male-cell passes into the oosphere with which it fuses, the two nuclei uniting, while the other fuses with the definitive nucleus, or, as it is also called, the endosperm nucleus. This remarkable double fertilization as it has been called, although only recently discovered, has been proved to take place in widely-separated families, and both in Monocotyledons and of a prothallium after a pause following the reinvigorating union of the polar nuclei. This view is still maintained by those who differentiate two acts of fertilization within the embryo-sac, and regard that of the egg by the first male-cell, as the true or generative fertilization, and that of the polar nuclei by the second male gamete as a vegetative fertilization which gives a stimulus to development in correlation with the other. If, on the other hand, the endosperm is the product of an act of fertilization as definite as that giving rise to the embryo itself, we have to recognize that twin-plants are produced within the embryo-sac—one, the embryo, which becomes the angiospermous plant, the other, the endosperm, a short-lived, undifferentiated nurse to assist in the nutrition of the former, even as the subsidiary embryos in a pluri-embryonic Gymnosperm may facilitate the nutrition of the dominant one. If this is so, and the endosperm like the embryo is normally the product of a sexual act, hybridization will give a hybrid endosperm as it does a hybrid embryo, and herein (it is suggested) we may have the explanation of the phenomenon of xenia observed in the mixed endosperms of hybrid races of maize and other plants, regarding which it has only been possible hitherto to assert that they were indications of the extension of the influence of the pollen beyond the egg and its product. This would not, however, explain the formation of fruits intermediate in size and colour between those of crossed parents. The signification of the coalescence of the polar nuclei is not explained by these new facts, but it is noteworthy that the second male-cell is said to unite sometimes with the apical polar nucleus, the sister of the egg, before the union of this with the basal polar one. The idea of the endosperm as a second subsidiary plant is no new one; it was suggested long ago in explanation of the coalescence of the polar nuclei, but it was then based on the assumption that these represented male and female cells, an assumption for which there was no evidence and which was inherently improbable. The proof of a coalescence of the second male nucleus with the definitive nucleus gives the conception a more stable basis. The antipodal cells aid more or less in the process of nutrition of the developing embryo, and may undergo multiplication, though they ultimately disintegrate, as do also the synergidae. As in Gymnosperms and other groups an interesting qualitative change is associated with the process of fertilization. The number of chromosomes (see Plant cytology) in the nucleus of the two spores, pollen-grain and embryo-sac, is only half the number found in an ordinary vegetative nucleus; and this reduced number persists in the cells derived from them. The full number is restored in the fusion of the male and female nuclei in the process of fertilization, and remains until the formation of the cells from which the spores are derived in the new generation. In several natural orders and genera departures from the course of development just described have been noted. In the natural Order Rosaceae, the Series Querciflorae, and the very anomalous Genus Casuarina and others, instead of a single macrospore a more or less extensive sporogenous tissue is formed, but only one cell proceeds to the formation of a functional female cell. In Casuarina, Juglans and the Order Corylaceae, the pollen-tube does not enter by means of the micropyle, but passing down the ovary wall and through the placenta, enters at the chalazal end of the ovule. Such a method of entrance is styled chalazogamic, in contrast to the porogamic or ordinary method of approach by means of the micropyle.

Embryology

The result of fertilization is the development of the ovule into the seed. By the segmentation of the fertilized egg, now invested by cell-membrane, the embryo-plant arises. A varying number of transverse segment-walls transform it into a pro-embryo—a cellular row of which the cell nearest the micropyle becomes attached to the apex of the embryo-sac, and thus fixes the position of the developing embryo, while the terminal cell is projected into its cavity. In Dicotyledons the shoot of the embryo is wholly derived from the terminal cell of the pro-embryo, from the next cell the root arises, and the remaining ones form the suspensor. In many Monocotyledons the terminal cell forms the cotyledonary portion alone of the shoot of the embryo, its axial part and the root being derived from the adjacent cell; the cotyledon is thus a terminal structure and the apex of the primary stem a lateral one—a condition in marked contrast with that of the Dicotyledons. In some Monocotyledons, however, the cotyledon is not really terminal. The primary root of the embryo in all Angiosperms points towards the micropyle. The developing embryo at the end of the suspensor grows out to a varying extent into the forming endosperm, from which by surface absorption it derives good material for growth; at the same time the suspensor plays a direct part as a carrier of nutrition, and may even develop, where perhaps no endosperm is formed, special absorptive "suspensor roots" which invest the developing embryo, or pass out into the body and coats of the ovule, or even into the placenta. In some cases the embryo or the embryo-sac sends out suckers into the nucellus and ovular integument. As the embryo develops it may absorb all the food material available, and store, either in its cotyledons or in its hypocotyl, what is not immediately required for growth, as reserve-food for use in germination, and by so doing it increases in size until it may fill entirely the embryo-sac; or its absorptive power at this stage may be limited to what is necessary for growth and it remains of relatively small size, occupying but a small area of the embryo-sac, which is otherwise filled with endosperm in which the reserve-food is stored. There are also intermediate states. The position of the embryo in relation to the endosperm varies, sometimes it is internal, sometimes external, but the significance of this has not yet been established. The formation of endosperm starts, as has been stated, from the endosperm nucleus. Its segmentation always begins before that of the egg, and thus there is timely preparation for the nursing of the young embryo. If in its extension to contain the new formations within it the embryo-sac remains narrow, endosperm formation proceeds upon the lines of a cell-division, but in wide embryo-sacs the endosperm is first of all formed as a layer of naked cells around the wall of the sac, and only gradually acquires a pluricellular character, forming a tissue filling the sac. The function of the endosperm is primarily that of nourishing the embryo, and its basal position in the embryo-sac places it favourably for the absorption of food material entering the ovule. Its duration varies with the precocity of the embryo. It may be wholly absorbed by the progressive growth of the embryo within the embryo-sac, or it may persist as a definite and more or less conspicuous constituent of the seed. When it persists as a massive element of the seed its nutritive function is usually apparent, for there is accumulated within its cells reserve-food, and according to the dominant substance it is starchy, oily, or rich in cellulose, mucilage or proteid. In cases where the embryo has stored reserve food within itself and thus provided for self-nutrition, such endosperm as remains in the seed may take on other functions, for instance, that of water-absorption. Some deviations from the usual course of development may be noted. Parthenogenesis, or the development of an embryo from an egg-cell without the latter having been fertilized, has been described in species of Thalictrum, Antennaria and Alchemilla. Polyembryony is generally associated with the development of cells other than the egg-cell. Thus in Erythronium and Limnocharis the fertilized egg may form a mass of tissue on which several embryos are produced. Isolated cases show that any of the cells within the embryo-sac may exceptionally form an embryo, e.g. the synergidae in species of Mimosa, Iris and Allium, and in the last-mentioned the antipodal cells also. In Coelebogyne (Euphorbiaceae) and in Funkia (Liliaceae) polyembryony results from an adventitious production of embryos from the cells of the nucellus around the top of the embryo-sac. In a species of Allium, embryos have been found developing in the same individual from the egg-cell, synergids, antipodal cells and cells of the nucellus. In two Malayan species of Balanophora, the embryo is developed from a cell of the endosperm, which is formed from the upper polar nucleus only, the egg apparatus becoming disorganized. The last-mentioned case has been regarded as representing an apogamous development of the sporophyte from the gametophyte comparable to the cases of apogamy described in Ferns. But the great diversity of these abnormal cases as shown in the examples cited above suggests the use of great caution in formulating definite morphological theories upon them.

Fruit and seed

As the development of embryo and endosperm proceeds within the embryo-sac, its wall enlarges and commonly absorbs the substance of the nucellus (which is likewise enlarging) to near its outer limit, and combines with it and the integument to form the seed-coat; or the whole nucellus and even the integument may be absorbed. In some plants the nucellus is not thus absorbed, but itself becomes a seat of deposit of reserve-food constituting the perisperm which may coexist with endosperm, as in the water-lily order, or may alone form a food-reserve for the embryo, as in Canna. Endospermic food-reserve has evident advantages over perispermic, and the latter is comparatively rarely found and only in non-progressive series. Seeds in which endosperm or perisperm or both exist are commonly called albuminous or endospermic, those in which neither is found are termed exalbuminous or exendospermic. These terms, extensively used by systematists, only refer, however, to the grosser features of the seed, and indicate the more or less evident occurrence of a food-reserve; many so-called exalbuminous seeds show to microscopic examination a distinct endosperm which may have other than a nutritive function. The presence or absence of endosperm, its relative amount when present, and the position of the embryo within it, are valuable characters for the distinction of orders and groups of orders. Meanwhile the ovary wall has developed to form the fruit or pericarp, the structure of which is closely associated with the manner of distribution of the seed. Frequently the influence of fertilization is felt beyond the ovary, and other parts of the flower take part in the formation of the fruit, as the floral receptacle in the apple, strawberry and others. The character of the seed-coat bears a definite relation to that of the fruit. Their function is the twofold one of protecting the embryo and of aiding in dissemination; they may also directly promote germination. If the fruit is a dehiscent one and the seed is therefore soon exposed, the seed-coat has to provide for the protection of the embryo and may also have to secure dissemination. On the other hand, indehiscent fruits discharge these functions for the embryo, and the seed-coat is only slightly developed.

Economic importance

Flowering plants provide a very high percentage of the base food for human use, whether directly or through livestock feed. Of all the families of flowering plants, the Poaceae, or grass family, is by far the most important, providing the bulk of all feedstocks (rice, corn (maize), wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, sugar cane, sorghum), with the Fabaceae, or legume family, in second place. Also of high importance are the Solanaceae, or nightshade family (potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers, among others), the Cucurbitaceae, or gourd family (also including pumpkins and melons), the Brassicaceae, or mustard family (including rapeseed and cabbage), and the Apiaceae, or parsley family. Many of our fruits come from the Rutaceae, or rue family, and the Rosaceae (rose family, including apples, pears, cherries, apricots, plums, etc). In some parts of the world, certain single species assume paramount importance because of their variety of uses. An example is the coconut (Cocos nucifera) on Pacific atolls. Another example is the olive (Olea europaea) in the Mediterranean. Flowering plants also provide economic resources in the form of wood, paper, fiber (cotton, flax, and hemp, among others), medicines (digitalis, camphor), decorative and landscaping plants, and many, many other uses.

See also


- List of flowers

References and external links


- Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2003). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141: 399-436. [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.t01-1-00158.x/full/ Available online].
- [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Angiosperms&contgroup=Spermatopsida Angiosperms] – Tree of Life Web Project
- Cronquist, Arthur. (1981) An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.
- [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/12.16/angiosperms.html Oldest Known Flowering Plants Identified By Genes], William J. Cromie, Harvard Gazette, December 16, 1999.
- Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards). [http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html Angiosperm Phylogeny Website] at Missouri Botanical Garden.
- [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.] http://delta-intkey.com Category:Magnoliophyta sort31 Angiospermae sort31 Angiospermae Category:Sexuality Category:Pollination ko:속씨식물 ms:Angiosperm ja:被子植物門 th:ไม้ดอก

Cuisine

A cuisine (from French cuisine, meaning "cooking; culinary art; kitchen"; itself from Latin coquina, meaning the same; itself from the Latin verb coquere, meaning "to cook") is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a place of origin. Religious food laws can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. (For example, the "Asian" dish chop suey clearly reflected the adaptation of Chinese immigrant cooking styles to the different ingredients available in North America.)

Introduction

The last century or so has produced enormous improvements in food production, preservation, storage and shipping. Today almost every locale in the world has access to not only its traditional cuisine, but also to many other world cuisines, as well. New cuisines are constantly evolving, as certain aesthetics rise and fall in popularity among professional chefs and their clientele. In addition to food, a cuisine is also often held to include beverages, including wine, liquor, tea, coffee and other drinks. Increasingly, experts hold that it further includes the raw ingredients and original plants and animals from which they come. The Slow Food movement is a global effort to preserve local plants, animals, and techniques of food preparation. It has 70,000 adherents in 50 countries. There are also different cultural attitudes to food, for example:
- In India, consumption of food is regarded as an offering, a Yajna. Thus the stomach is considered to be a homagunda (holy fire) and all the food consumed is an offering to the holy fire.
- In Japan, Tea drinking is a fine-art and there is an elaborate ceremony about it. Not drinking tea in the right way is considered to be an act of barbarianism. The following section is an overview of world cuisines. It is incomplete. It is organized roughly by geographical area, starting in the Western hemisphere and working Eastward and from North to South. Please help complete it.

Cuisines of the Americas

Cuisines of the Americas are based on the cuisines of the countries from which the immigrant peoples came, primarily Europe. However, the traditional European cuisine has been adapted to a greater or lesser degree and many local ingredients and techniques have been added to the tradition.

Cuisines of Canada

See also: Canadian cuisines
- Atlantic Canada
- Canadian Chinese cuisine
- Fast food
- First Nations
- Fusion
- Québécois
- Toronto
- Vancouver
- Vegetarian

Cuisines of the United States (including Puerto Rico)

See also: Cuisine of the United States
- Chinese American
- Barbecue
- California
- Euro-asian cuisine (a type of Fusion cuisine)
- Fast food
- Floribbean
- Kentucky
- Hawaii
- Midwest
- Native American
- New England
- New York City
- Pennsylvania Dutch
- Puerto Rico
- Southern states
  - Cajun
  - Creole
  - Soul food
  - Tex-Mex
- Southwest

Cuisines of the Caribbean

See also: Cuisine of the Caribbean
- Cuba
- Dominican republic
- Jamaica
- Puerto Rico

Cuisines of Latin America

See also: Latin American cuisine, Cuisine of South America
- Mexico
- Costa Rica
- Nicaragua:
  - Vaho
  - Churrasco
    - Chimichurri
- Argentina
- Andes
- Brazil
- Peru

Cuisines of Europe

See also: Cuisine of Europe

Cuisines of Northern Europe


- Austrian
- Belgium
- British
  - Modern British
- Denmark
- Germany
- Finland
- French
  - Provencal
- Hungary
- Polish
- Russian
- Slovakia
- Sweden

Cuisines of the Mediterranean

See also: Cuisine of the Mediterranean
- Portugal
- Spain
  - Catalonia
- Italy excluding Sicily
- Sicily
- Lebanon
- Cuisines of the Balkans
  - Albania
  - Bulgaria
  - Croatia
  - Greece
  - Turkey
  - Serbia
- Armenia

Cuisines of Africa

See also: Cuisine of Africa
- West Africa
- Ethiopia
- Morocco
- South Africa

Cuisines of the Middle East

See also: Cuisine of the Middle East
- Kosher cuisine
- Lebanon
- Persian cuisine
- Arab cuisine

Cuisines of Indian Subcontinent

Cuisines of the Indian subcontinent includes cuisines from the peninsular region of South Asia, which includes India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, usually also Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. One characteristic component of the cuisines of these regions is rice and curry dishes. See also: Cuisine of India
- India
  - North Indian cuisines
    - Punjabi cuisine
    - Kashmiri cuisine
    - Benarsi cuisine
  - South Indian cuisines
    - Kerala cuisine
    - Andhra cuisine
    - Canarese cuisine
    - Tamilian cuisine
  - West Indian cuisines
    - Maharashtrian cuisine
    - Malvani cuisine
    - Goan cuisine
    - Rajasthani/Gujarati cuisine
  - East Indian Cuisines
    - West Bengali Cuisine
    - Assamese cuisine
- Bangladesh
  - Bangladeshi cuisine
- Pakistan
  - Pakistani cuisine
- Sri Lanka
  - Sri Lankan cuisine

Cuisines of East Asia

See also: Cuisine of Asia
- China
  - Chinese Buddhist
  - Cantonese
  - Chiuchow
  - Hakka
  - Hunan
  - Islamic
  - Mandarin
  - Shanghai
  - Szechuan
  - Taiwanese
- Cambodia
- Indonesia
- Japan
- Korea
- Laos
- Malaysia
  - Penang
  - Ipoh
- Mongolia
- The Philippines
- Singapore
- Thailand
- Tibet
- Vietnam

Cuisines of Oceania


- Australia
- Hawaii
- Fiji
- New Zealand
- Polynesia
- Nauru

Non-regional cuisines


- Fast Food, and its nemesis Slow Food which preserves regional cuisines
- Fusion cuisine
- Jewish cuisine
- Living foods diet
- Vegan cuisine
- Vegetarian cuisine

See also


- Wikipedia Cookbook
- Cooking

External links


-
- [http://www.toque-et-verre.com/ La Toque & le Verre - OnLine] (french) La cuisine des chefs ja:料理 ko:요리

Plant


- Land plants (embryophytes)
  - Non-vascular plants (bryophytes)
    - Marchantiophyta - liverworts
    - Anthocerotophyta - hornworts
    - Bryophyta - mosses
  - Vascular plants (tracheophytes)
    - Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses
    - Equisetophyta - horsetails
    - Pteridophyta - "true" ferns
    - Psilotophyta - whisk ferns
    - Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues
    - Seed plants (spermatophytes)
      - †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns
      - Pinophyta - conifers
      - Cycadophyta - cycads
      - Ginkgophyta - ginkgo
      - Gnetophyta - gnetae
      - Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Magnoliophyta Plants are a major group of living things (about 300,000 species), including familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, and ferns. Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move or have sensory organs, and animals. In Linnaeus' system, these became the Kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae were removed to new kingdoms. However, these are still often considered plants in many contexts. Indeed, any attempt to match "plant" with a single taxon is doomed to fail, because plant is a vaguely defined concept unrelated to the presumed phylogenic concepts on which modern taxonomy is based.

Embryophytes

:See main article at Embryophytes Most familiar are the multicellular land plants, called embryophytes. They include the vascular plants, plants with full systems of leaves, stems, and roots. They also include a few of their close relatives, often called bryophytes, of which mosses and liverworts are the most common. All of these plants have eukaryotic cells with cell walls composed of cellulose, and most obtain their energy through photosynthesis, using light and carbon dioxide to synthesize food. About three hundred plant species do not photosynthesize but are parasites on other species of photosynthetic plants. Plants are distinguished from green algae, from which they evolved, by having specialized reproductive organs protected by non-reproductive tissues. Bryophytes first appeared during the early Palaeozoic. They can only survive where moisture is available for significant periods, although some species are desiccation tolerant. Most species of bryophyte remain small throughout their life-cycle. This involves an alternation between two generations: a haploid stage, called the gametophyte, and a diploid stage, called the sporophyte. The sporophyte is short-lived and remains dependent on its parent gametophyte. Vascular plants first appeared during the Silurian period, and by the Devonian had diversified and spread into many different land environments. They have a number of adaptations that allowed them to overcome the limitations of the bryophytes. These include a cuticle resistant to desiccation, and vascular tissues which transport water throughout the organism. In most the sporophyte acts as a separate individual, while the gametophyte remains small. Devonians (Pteridophyta) more closely allied to seed plants than they are to clubmosses (Lycopodiophyta)]] The first primitive seed plants, Pteridosperms (seed ferns) and Cordaites, both groups now extinct, appeared in the late Devonian and diversified through the Carboniferous, with further evolution through the Permian and Triassic periods. In these the gametophyte stage is completely reduced, and the sporophyte begins life inside an enclosure called a seed, which develops while on the parent plant, and with fertilisation by means of pollen grains. Whereas other vascular plants, such as ferns, reproduce by means of spores and so need moisture to develop, some seed plants can survive and reproduce in extremely arid conditions. Early seed plants are referred to as gymnosperms (naked seeds), as the seed embryo is not enclosed in a protective structure at pollination, with the pollen landing directly on the embryo. Four surviving groups remain widespread now, particularly the conifers, which are dominant trees in several biomes. The angiosperms, comprising the flowering plants, were the last major group of plants to appear, emerging from within the gymnosperms during the Jurassic and diversifying rapidly during the Cretaceous. These differ in that the seed embryo is enclosed, so the pollen has to grow a tube to penetrate the protective seed coat; they are the predominant group of flora in most biomes today.

Algae and Fungi

The algae comprise several different groups of organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis. However, they are not classified within the kingdom plantae but in the kingdom protista instead. The most conspicuous are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that often closely resemble terrestrial plants, but as stated above are not plants, found among the green, red, and brown algae. These and other algal groups also include various single-celled creatures and forms that are simple collections of cells, without differentiated tissues. Many can move about, and some have even lost their ability to photosynthesize; when first discovered, these were considered as both plants and animals. Now they are considered neither, but protists. The embryophytes developed from green algae; the two are collectively referred to as the green plants or Viridiplantae. The kingdom Plantae is now usually taken to mean this monophyletic group, as shown above. With a few exceptions among the green algae, all such forms have cell walls containing cellulose and chloroplasts containing chlorophylls a and b, and store food in the form of starch. They undergo closed mitosis without centrioles, and typically have mitochondria with flat cristae. The chloroplasts of green plants are surrounded by two membranes, suggesting they originated directly from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. The same is true of the red algae, and the two groups are generally believed to have a common origin. In contrast, most other algae have chloroplasts with three or four membranes. They are not in general close relatives of the green plants, acquiring chloroplasts separately from ingested or symbiotic green and red algae. Unlike embryophytes and algae, fungi are not photosynthetic, but are saprophytes: they obtain their food by breaking down and absorbing surrounding materials. Most fungi are formed by microscopic tubes called hyphae, which may or may not be divided into cells but contain eukaryotic nuclei. Fruiting bodies, of which mushrooms are the most familiar, are actually only the reproductive structures of fungi. They are not related to any of the photosynthetic groups, but are close relatives of animals. Therefore, fungus has a kingdom of its own.

Importance

The photosynthesis and carbon fixation conducted by land plants and algae are the ultimate source of energy and organic material in nearly all habitats. These processes also radically changed the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, which as a result contains a large proportion of oxygen. Animals and most other organisms are aerobic, relying on oxygen; those that do not are confined to relatively few, anaerobic environments. Much of human nutrition depends on cereals. Other plants that are eaten include fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices. Some vascular plants, referred to as trees and shrubs, produce woody stems and are an important source of building material. A number of plants are used decoratively, including a variety of flowers.

Growth

It is a common misconception that most of the solid material in a plant is taken from the soil, when in fact almost all of it is actually taken from the air. Through a process known as photosynthesis, plants use the energy in sunlight to convert carbon dioxide from the air into simple sugars. These sugars are then used as building blocks and form the main structural component of the plant. Plants rely on soil primarily for water (in quantitative terms), but also obtain nitrogen, phosphorus and other crucial nutrients. phosphorus Simple plants like algae may have short life spans as individuals, but their populations are commonly seasonal. Other plants may be organized according to their seasonal growth pattern:
- Annual: live and reproduce within one growing season.
- Biennial: live for two growing seasons; usually reproduce in second year.
- Perennial: live for many growing seasons; continue to reproduce once mature. Among the vascular plants, perennials include both evergreens that keep their leaves the entire year, and deciduous plants which lose their leaves for some part. In temperate and boreal climates, they generally lose their leaves during the winter; many tropical plants lose their leaves during the dry season. The growth rate of plants is extremely variable. Some mosses grow less than 0.001 mm/h, while most trees grow 0.025-0.250 mm/h. Some climbing species, such as kudzu, which do not need to produce thick supportive tissue, may grow up to 12.5 mm/h.

Fossils

Plant fossils include roots, wood, leaves, seeds, fruit, pollen, spores, phytoliths, and amber (the fossilized resin produced by some plants). Fossil land plants are recorded in terrestrial, lacustrine, fluvial and nearshore marine sediments. Pollen, spores and algae (dinoflagellates and acritarchs) are used for dating sedimentary rock sequences. The remains of fossil plants are not as common as fossil animals, although plant fossils are locally abundant in many regions worldwide. Early fossils of these ancient plants show the individual cells within the plant tissue. The Devonian period also saw the evolution of what many believe to be the first modern tree, Archaeopteris. This fern-like tree combined a woody trunk with the fronds of a fern, but produced no seeds. Archaeopteris The Coal Measures are a major source of Palaeozoic plant fossils, with many groups of plants in existence at this time. The spoil heaps of coal mines are the best places to collect; coal itself is the remains of fossilised plants, though structural detail of the plant fossils is rarely visible in coal. In the Fossil Forest at Victoria Park in Glasgow, Scotland, the stumps of Lepidodendron trees are found in their original growth positions. The fossilized remains of conifer and angiosperm roots, stems and branches may be locally abundant in lake and inshore sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic and Caenozoic eras. Sequoia and its allies, magnolia, oak, and palms are often found. Petrified wood is common in some parts of the world, and is most frequently found in arid or desert areas were it is more readily exposed by erosion. Petrified wood is often heavily silicified (the organic material replaced by silicon dioxide), and the impregnated tissue is often preserved in fine detail. Such specimens may be cut and polished using lapidary equipment. Fossil forests of petrified wood have been found in all continents. Fossils of seed ferns such as Glossopteris are widely distributed throughout several continents of the southern hemisphere, a fact that gave support to Alfred Wegener's early ideas regarding Continental drift theory.

Distribution

References and further reading


- Kenrick, Paul & Crane, Peter R. (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-730-8.
- Raven, Peter H., Evert, Ray F., & Eichhorn, Susan E. (2005). Biology of Plants (7th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 0-7167-1007-2.
- Taylor, Thomas N. & Taylor, Edith L. (1993). The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-651589-4.

See also


- Biosphere
- Botany
- Garden
- Flower
- Forest
- Fruit
- Plant cell
- Prehistoric plants
- Tree
- Vegetable
- Vegetation

External links


- [http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Green_plants&contgroup=Eukaryotes Tree of Life]
- Chaw, S.-M. et al. [http://mbe.library.arizona.edu/data/1997/1401/7chaw.pdf Molecular Phylogeny of Extant Gymnosperms and Seed Plant Evolution: Analysis of Nuclear 18s rRNA Sequences (pdf file)] Molec. Biol. Evol. 14 (1): 56-68. 1997.
- [http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/phylogeny/cronq88.html Interactive Cronquist classification]

Botanical and vegetation databases


- [http://www.efloras.org/index.aspx e-Floras (Flora of China, Flora of North America and others)]
- [http://plants.usda.gov/ United States of America]
- [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html Flora Europaea]
- [http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/databases/ Australia]
- [http://davesgarden.com/pdb/ 'Dave's Garden' horticultural plant database]
- [http://www.chilebosque.cl Chilean plants at Chilebosque] Category:Plants Category:Plant_taxonomy zh-min-nan:Si̍t-bu̍t ko:식물 ms:Tumbuhan ja:植物 simple:Plant th:พืช

Plum

:"Plum" is also a nickname for British humorist P.G. Wodehouse. See text A plum is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera (peaches, cherries, bird cherries, etc) in the shoots having a terminal bud and the side buds solitary (not clustered), the flowers being grouped 1-5 together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one side, and a smooth stone. The subgenus is divided into three sections:
- Sect. Prunus (Old World plums). Leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers 1-3 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed. Species: P