Plant diversity
Name
The_Fundamentals_of_Horticulture.jpg
Description
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Size
8.66 KB
Format
JPEG
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
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Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Buffin, Michael
Upson, Tim
Date published
2018
Abstract
This chapter illustrates that diversity in gardens is more than the plants we deliberately grow and includes many other organisms that occur naturally or we may encourage. This diversity is found at various levels from the kingdoms representing the main life forms, the living plant lineages that reflect their evolutionary history, to the species that we choose to grow and the genetic diversity within them that provides new material for breeding. The systems and tools used for structuring the different levels of classification, and subsequent naming, are also highlighted. Together with an introduction to the language used within this changing area of continued emerging knowledge; enlightenment assisted by the use of DNA. Plants have been moved around the world for centuries and we continue to bring them together in new ways in our gardens. Never before has the choice of plant palette been wider. Also, our understanding of their relationships, both between themselves and the wider ecosystem, is constantly being expanded and redefined. This should be considered together with the role that we can play: will it be a passive or an active one? Only by harnessing and encouraging a healthy garden ecosystem and the many interactions between organisms can we create interesting and sustainable environments around us and successfully cultivate plants whether for our pleasure or food. Understanding that these plants and other organisms interact together and have their own niches is essential knowledge for the horticulturist, to ensure we grow plants in the right place and that the garden ecosystems we create are healthy and sustainable. Get this aspect of gardening right and then the establishment, maintenance and successful growth of plants follows. While we might consider our own evolutionary journey remarkable, perhaps the most important has been those of plants. From early aquatic origins they colonised terrestrial ecosystems altering the very nature of our planet. We are a green planet dominated by plants, on which almost all other organisms rely. Through photosynthesis plants power the planet and make it habitable and at least for us provide everyday essentials from food and shelter to medicines. It is this diversity of plants and their importance to us that brings people into horticulture and can maintain a life-long interest and passion.
Contributor (person)
Bird, Chris
Book title
The Fundamentals of Horticulture: Theory and Practice
Pagination
2-23
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Place of publication
Cambridge, UK
ISSN
978-113919415-0
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright