Organizing the Green World: A Conceptual History of Botanical Classification / by Tod F. Stuessy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stuessy, Tod F., Author.

Series:

Biomedical and Life Sciences Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plants--Evolution.

Plants.

Plants--Development.

Plant ecology.

Evolution (Biology).

Science--History.

Science.

Plant Evolution.

Plant Development.

Plant Ecology.

Evolutionary Theory.

History of Science.

Local Subjects:

Plant Evolution.

Plant Development.

Plant Ecology.

Evolutionary Theory.

History of Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XVIII, 373 p. 127 illus., 55 illus. in color.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2025.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Springer, 2025.

Summary:

This book focuses on plant systematics and evolution, with special interest on the history and philosophy of botanical classification. Tracing the history of how humans have dealt with ordering the plant world is very much a glimpse of how human culture and science have progressed over the past 2000 years. The objective in this book is to present ideas on plant classification beginning with classical Greek and Roman scholars, through the Middle Ages, into the Renaissance, and finally to the modern 21st century. Significant quantitative methods in classification have originated within the past 70 years, which have never before been integrated with previous historical perspectives. Most textbooks of systematic botany contain an historical introduction or perhaps a chapter on the history of classification, but this book presents much greater detail on the classifications themselves and the cultural dimensions of the different time periods. Biographical detail is also provided to give a better appreciation of the individual botanists who have contributed new ideas in the search for maximally predictive systems.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Classification as a portrait of reality

Chapter 2 Observing the natural world

Chapter 3 Keeping ancient knowledge alive

Chapter 4 Utility of plants for humans

Chapter 5 Early efforts toward formal classification

Chapter 6 A stable and convenient system emerges

Chapter 7 Improving predictive quality

Chapter 8 Development of evolutionary thinking

Chapter 9 Phylogenetic/evolutionary classification systems: European influences

Chapter 10 Phylogenetic/evolutionary classification systems: American and other Influences

Chapter 11 The populational revolution

Chapter 12 Explanation and quantification in classification

Chapter 13 Putting descent into quantitative classification

Chapter 14 Phylogenetic analysis and its influence on classification

Chapter 15 Quantitative evolutionary phylogenetics

Chapter 16 Horizons.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

3-031-80384-1

OCLC:

1524425416