Learn about the taxonomy and physiology of plants
Anybody dealing with plants, from breeders to nursery growers to agriculturists, should learn botany in addition to botanists and horticulturists. You can better grow and maintain plants if you know how they develop into flowers.
This course covers broad botany, including morphology and anatomy, as well as the foundations of plant science and offers an introduction to plant physiology and taxonomy.
- Learn about botany under the direction of an amazing team of tutors from across the world. This course is very much “applied” and has application to the actual world.
- Study Botany as a foundation for jobs in:
– Horticulture, Gardening, Landscaping, Parks
– Crop Production, Farming
– Environmental assessment and management
– Ecotourism, Scientific Research, Teaching, Writing and Media
ACS student comment: “It has been an eye opener!! I am now living in a different world, my whole perspective to life and nature has changed and now I cherish it more. It has broadened my mind and advanced my level of looking at things in my every day work as well. [My tutor] encourages me a lot and that kept me going. She would give more positive constructive correction where necessary as if it was not that bad at all. She has been supportive and understanding” Lucia Masuku, South Africa – Botany I course
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
- Taxonomic Classification of Plants
- Plant Taxonomy – Botanical/Horticultural Nomenclature, The Binomial System, Botanical Classification, Plant Families and Species, Hybrids, Varieties and Cultivars
- Botanical Keys – How to use a botanical key, Key to Plant Groups, Key to Plant Phyla
- Cells and Tissues
- Plant Cells – types of plant cells
- Plant Tissues – Primary and Secondary Growth
- Specific Vegetative Parts of a Plant
- Stems – Stem Forms
- Leaves – Leaf Structure and Arrangement
- Roots – Root Structure (tap root, adventitious roots)
- Common Botanical Terms
- Flowers and Fruit
- The flower – inflorescence (panicle, umbel, composite head)
- Fruits – Simple, Aggregate, Multiple
- Reproductive Growth and Development – pollination, fertilisation, fruit setting
- Seed and the Developing Embryo
- Seed Structure – Seed Coats, Food Storage Organs, Embryo
- Seed Germination – Germination Requirements, Stimulation, Inhibition
- Propagation of Plants
- Photosynthesis and Growing Plants
- Photosynthesis – the Photosynthetic Apparatus, Light transformation into energy, the Photosynthetic process, Gas Exchange with the Atmosphere
- Respiration
- Stages of Respiration – the Krebs Cycle, Electron Transport Chain
- Rate of Respiration
- The Role of Water
- Osmosis
- Water Movement from Soil to Root – Development of Root Pressure
- The Transpiration Stream – Transpiration and Environmental Conditions
- Movement of Water and Assimilates through a Plant
- Mechanisms of Nutrient Uptake
- Absorption and Transport of Mineral Nutrients
- Translocation of Sugars
- Adaptations for Water Storage
- Food and Water Storage Organs
- The Effects of Tropisms and Other Growth Movements
- Plant Hormones
- Tropisms – Phototropism, Geotropism, Thigmotropism, Other Growth Movements
- Chemical Growth Modifications
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Recognize how horticulture techniques relate to the scientific topics covered in this lesson.
- Show that you are knowledgeable about the Plant Kingdom and the taxonomic hierarchy.
- Determine the many plant cell and tissue types, their structures, and functions.
- Identify the function and role of a plant’s specific vegetative parts.
- Identify the function and role of the plant’s reproductive components.
- Show that you are aware of the significance of the seed and its function in the plant’s life cycle.
- Describe the process of photosynthesis, its function in plants’ metabolism, and how it relates to controlled environment plant development.
- Describe the mechanism of respiration and its function in plants’ metabolic processes.
- Show that you are aware of the significance of water to plants.
- Examine how water, solutes, and assimilates travel through the plant.
- Recognize how plant motions such as tropisms affect development and growth.
- Do risk assessments that are pertinent to the course’s learning objectives.
How You Plan to Act
- assemble a collection of 40 pressed, tagged, dried plants.
- Discover how to identify plants with a botanical key.
- 10 unknown plants must have their phylum, families, genera, and species identified.
- Recognize altered plant components on living plants.
- Provide botanical descriptions of the leaf forms of various plants.
- Examine numerous flowers, then identify the diagrams you create.
- Gather fruits and sort them into categories (pome, drupe, etc)
- Seeds should be germination and the evolution of the seeds should be discussed.
- Investigate the effects of various sunshine levels on potted plants and connect this to photosynthesis.
- Observe and record osmosis in an experimental setting. Observe and link the transpiration of live plants to theoretical information.
- Observe and document plant phototropism.
What Constitutes a Plant?
Cells make up all living things. These are the fundamental physiologic and structural building blocks of life. You will discover in this lesson how the structures of distinct plant cells and tissues connect to the tasks that they carry out.
Tissues are large groups of cells that share a similar structure and perform a single function. The numerous types of tissues that make up complex organs like flowers, leaves, stalks, roots, and fruits are all different.
Tissues can be divided into two categories:
- Plant roots and shoots include meristematic tissue. Cells actively divide and differentiate into numerous cell types there.
- Meristematic cells divide and differentiate into permanent tissue, which then forms. Simple permanent tissues, such as the epidermis, parenchyma, schlerenchyma, and collenchyma, and complex permanent tissues (including xylem and phloem).
You will study about the function, makeup, and growth of cells in this course, as well as how cells give rise to roots, stems, and leaves.
The alterations of a plant’s vegetative sections will also be examined. The course does place more of an emphasis on flowering plants (also known as angiosperms), which make up the majority of domesticated plants.
Four key components make up these angiosperms:
- Fruits and flowers are reproductive parts.
- Stems: the supporting structure to which other pieces are attached.
- Roots: Subsoil-surface components of a plant (mostly, but not always)
- For respiration, transpiration, and photosynthesis, leaves are necessary.
Get a New Perspective on Plant Details
Upon Graduation
Any decent course should serve as the starting point for further study in the field of plant science.
You gain insights to comprehend things every time you look at a plant after you establish an awareness of the principles of botanical science.
Everyone comes into contact with plants every day of their lives, whether it be in their own gardens, on the road when driving or while walking through a park in the city or the country.
Botanists will be able to identify the traits that set one plant species apart from another, as well as how the plant is growing new leaves, blooms, and fruits, as well as the various factors that affect its health and growth cycles.
Learning about plants is beneficial for everyone.
Farmers, environmentalists, and others will increase their career opportunities and professional capabilities.
