PART five: 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



Malaria is probably one of the most prevalent diseases in 

 the world. Up until recently, the only cure for it was cin- 

 chona bark extract and the cinchona trees are native to the 

 Andes Mountains. Seeds of the South American trees were 

 used to start plantations in Ceylon, Java, and India and when 

 our supply of cinchona was cut off by the Japanese, it became 

 necessary for the United States Government to send men to 

 South America to locate supplies of this tree for use by the 

 troops. Since there are about 40 species of the genus Cin- 

 chona, what type of man would have the best chance of find- 

 ing the right one? Naturally, systematic botanists were chosen. 

 Systematists also identified food plants, lumber plants, plants 

 for rubber, essential oils, and so forth. They write identifica- 

 tion manuals such as Gray's Manual, Hitchcock's Manual of 

 the Grasses of the United States, and dozens of others. Peo- 

 ple use these books to identify wild flowers, grasses, and 

 weeds. 



Actually no scientific work on an organism can be done 

 unless one knows the exact scientific name of the creature. 

 Results without this assurance are not acceptable. There are 

 about 414,000 species of plants known, and ne^v species are 

 coming to light each year. Linnaeus, whose word is law 

 for many names, is famous for popularizing the binomial sys- 

 tem, certainly a better system than using only a long descrip- 

 tion. 



Dr. Gleason discusses the reasons why botanists use Latin 

 or Greek, and Dr. Camp demonstrates the value of a herbar- 

 ium, a study collection of dried plants. Arboreta and botanic 

 gardens feature live plants. Such places may be as important 

 as herbaria although only adaptable plants can be grown. They 

 have a special appeal to gardeners and plant lovers of all kinds. 



The modern systematist uses all of the tried and true ap- 

 proaches but in recent years has added cytotaxonomy, paper 

 chromatography, and other techniques to his arsenal. The 

 naming of plants will always remain one of the foundation 

 stones of botany. 



For more information on this topic, read TTie Plant King- 

 dom by Harold C. Bold. 



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