Land plants, evolution and geography

Abstract

From earliest times to the present day, human beings have paid close attention to the plant kingdom on Earth. The needs for food, shelter, clothing, medicines and even magical and religious practices have ensured that any society, whatever its cultural level, has had to take stock of the plant resources of the region it inhabited. Consequently, by the time of the European Renaissance, an enormous stock of plant lore had been accumulated around the world, and from the 16th century onwards this accumulated knowledge has been patiently sifted and codified by successive generations of botanical scientists. This process began in earnest in the early 16th century with the publication of the first floras, in particular those by the great French botanist, Charles de l’Ecluse (Clusius), who produced the Rarorium Plantarum Historia, a flora of Europe in 1601. At the same time, the botanical resources of other areas of the world were being actively explored and a constant stream of specimens for the field, garden and herbarium were beginning to arrive at the public and private centres of learned culture in Europe. Turkey, for example, provided at that time the anemone, tulip, hyacinth, lilac and horse chestnut, which still adorn our surburban streets and gardens today.