DOCSLIB.ORG

The Systematist 24

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Systematist 24 Spotlight on Book review Agnes Arber on Plant phy- logeny and the origin of major biomes Meeting reports: Evolution of protozoa and BackPage: other protists News and forthcoming Phylocode in events of the Paris Systematics Association Lucy? The orangutan and the enigma of human origin these are excellent events attracting For those interested in contributing substantial numbers of postgraduate Editorial a letter, article, a response, news students who have an opportunity to item to The Systematist, please note present talks and posters. The over- that the deadline for the next issue is whelming impression following this June 1 2005. year's event was the enthusiasm and Our cover will have already told professionalism generated by the you that the evolution of "The Malte C. Ebach & Paul Wilkin participants. Systematist" continues apace. We Editors 2005 heralds our fifth biennial hope that you like the content and meeting, this time to be held in new front page design: please let us Please visit the SA website: Cardiff (August 22nd-26th). The know your thoughts. Issue 24 high- www.systass.org biennials have now become events lights include an excellent article on not to be missed both for their sci- morphology vs. sequence data in ence and the conviviality. The three hominid systematics by John Letter from the themes chosen for this year address Grehan (p. 3-7), which is accompa- highly topical issues - The New nied by the specially commissioned President Taxonomy; What is Biogeography? cover illustration by William and Compatibility Methods in Parsons, a report on the Evolution Systematics. In addition there will of Protozoa and other Protists plenty time for contributed papers Meeting last September (p. 7-9), and Greetings for 2005! and, as usual, we will be awarding a personal account of the Phylocode prizes for the best student oral and meeting in Paris in July 2004 (p. 9- The New Year is a time for taking poster presentations. Please note this 12). We also enjoyed reading Maura stock of what has recently past but event in your diaries now. Flannery's piece on Agnes Arber (p. more particularly it is a time for Several changes have taken place 13-17). A hard copy of the looking forward. As I mentioned in amongst the Officers. Donald Systematics Research Fund applica- my introduction to the Summer Quicke and David Williams have tion form is available, and SA pro- Edition, 2004 was a year for navel completed their terms of office as gramme information for 2005 is can gazing. Council reviewed the extent Zoological and Botanical be found in its usual place on the and detail of our activities and Secretaries respectively. Eileen Cox, back page. Our thanks are particu- decided upon a number of innova- after nine years as Programmes larly due to Dr. Rudi Schmid of UC tions. Above all, we were keen to Secretary, has earned a well- Berkeley for providing the photo- engage more frequently with the deserved respite. We offer them our graph of Agnes Arber on p. 14. membership of the Association and warmest thanks for their respective The role of The Systematist with this in mind we instigated 'The contributions and look forward to should be to inform, stimulate and Sir Julian Huxley Lecture' which their continuing support. As a result entertain the membership. Perhaps took place on July 7 at the Linnean of our discussions last year we the best way to ensure that this hap- Society and was followed by a wine decided to dispense with the roles of pens is for SA members to write and reception in the library. This event two of the secretaries and to replace submit articles themselves. We are was such a success that it will now them by a Programmes Secretary always seeking interesting copy and become an annual occurrence - sug- and an Awards and Grants Secretary. arresting images, so please get writ- gestions for speakers and topics are Bill Baker (RBGK) and Tim ing now for the Summer, 2005 always welcome. In 2005 the lecture Littlewood (NHM) respectively issue. We and your colleagues look will take place on July 6 at the have duly been elected to these forward to hearing what you have to Linnean Society. The AGM on positions. Together with the new say, and perhaps to giving our own December 6 2004 was followed by 'ordinary' members of Council we point of view in return. It's one way the annual address given by Joel welcome them on board. to convince the outside world that Cracraft which generated much live- Finally on a purely personal note I our discipline is alive, relevant and ly debate. The following day the have much enjoyed my first year as effective in meeting its challenges. Sixth Young Systematists Forum President of the Association and Hope you all have a systematical- was hosted at the Natural History look to meeting you at the Cardiff ly productive 2005. Museum. As has become customary, Biennial in August. A happy and productive New Year to you all. Cover illustration : “Lucy” Copyright 2005 William Parsons (published with permission). Artistic interpreta- tion of Lucy by William Parsons using a recent skull reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis and addi- tional soft tissue features implied by a cladistic sister group relationship between humans and orangutans. Barry Leadbeater President The Systematist 2005 No. 24 2 The orangutan and the enigma of human origin John R. Grehan Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, USA Orangutans are our nearest living relatives. That is the unequivocal story of morphological systematics. Ignoring this evidence, in favor of genetic similarity linking humans and chimpanzees, calls into question the continued existence of morphological systematics as a science. ver 20 years ago the chimpanzee relationship rests on ing only if it conforms to a genetic primate and hominid genetics - principally the similarity relationship (Collard and Wood systematist Jeffrey of matching DNA base sequences. 2000; Pilbeam 2000). O Schwartz made a Greater similarities of DNA The subordination of morphology startling and challenging proposition sequences were widely seen by to DNA similarity leaves the scien- that should have turned human evo- geneticists and even morphologists tific study of evolution in a precari- lution upside down. Schwartz pro- to be a reliable predictor of a closer ous position because it would posed that the orangutan (Pongo phylogenetic relationship since appear to invalidate the entire pygmaeus) was more closely related humans and chimpanzees differ by endeavor of morphological system- to humans than were either chim- only about 1.1% of all base atics. What is the answer to this panzees or gorillas. This proposal sequences compared to 2.2% for problem? According to Timothy went against the almost universally humans and orangutans, chim- Littlewood of the Natural History accepted view that the chimpanzee panzees became the nearest relative Museum in London, incongruities is our closest living relative. of choice (Schwartz 1987). The sim- between molecular and morphologi- Schwartz's reasoning was based ilarity of human and chimpanzee cal data highlight the need for addi- on cladistic analysis showing that sequences was seen to be so close tional data rather than representing a barrier to resolving the tree of life (Pennisi 2003). But what is 'more In any other group of organisms the com- data'? parative level of cladistic support for Schwartz's work shows that the orangutans would attract intense scrutiny key might not simply be the addi- and detailed critique. Instead there ensued tion of more data, but the addition of data that comes from asking the two decades of almost total silence. right kind of questions. So the orangutan relationship is more than there are about 40 uniquely shared that some authors called for the just a minor question in systematics. characters between humans and incorporation of both primates with- It reaches into the heart of systemat- orangutans compared with only 7- in the genus Homo (Diamond 1993; ic theory and method, and in turn, 10 uniquely shared between humans Goodman et al. 1998). If the genetic the veracity of evolutionary model- and chimpanzees (Schwartz 1984, relationship is the sole predictor of ing. 1987, 1988, 2001, 2004a). In any phylogeny, as has been widely In this article I will briefly review other group of organisms the com- accepted in primate systematics, the nature of the morphological con- parative level of cladistic support does morphology continue to have nection between humans and for orangutans would attract intense any evolutionary meaning, and can orangutans (defended in detail by scrutiny and detailed critique. morphology continue to exist as a Schwartz 1987, 1988, 2001, 2004a). Instead there ensued two decades of science if it has no predictive I will show that the morphological almost total silence. power? The answer, according to evidence marshaled by Schwartz is The reason for the silence is not some practitioners, is "no" because a better predictor of the hominid hard to find. The foundation of the morphology has evolutionary mean- fossil record than the DNA sequence The Systematist 2005 No. 24 3 support for the chimpanzee. I will incisive foramen, a small opening ductive hormone estriol. also argue that the correlation of liv- (wide in humans, narrow in Humans and orangutans stand ing and fossil morphology supports orangutans) near the front of the apart from chimpanzees, gorillas, the contention of Schwartz (2004a) upper palate, which allows blood gibbons, and most monkey species that morphology need not be subor- vessels and nerves to pass through in having concealed ovulation dinated to DNA sequence similarity from the floor of the nasal cavity. because there is no female genital for the systematic resolution of pri- All other primates, including chim- swelling or color change during the mates or any other group of organ- panzees, have two foramina.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Maura C. Flannery St
    Goethe and the Molecular Aesthetic Maura C. Flannery St. John’s University I argue here that Goethe’s “delicate empiricism” is not an alternative approach to science, but an approach that scientists use consistently, though they usually do not label it as such. I further contend that Goethe’s views are relevant to today’s science, specifically to work on the structure of macromolecules such as proteins. Using the work of Agnes Arber, a botanist and philosopher of science, I will show how her writings help to relate Goethe’s work to present-day issues of cogni- tion and perception. Many observers see Goethe’s “delicate empiricism” as an antidote to reductionism and to the strict separation of the objective and subjective so prevalent in science today. The argument is that there is a different way to do science, Goethe’s way, and it can achieve discoveries which would be impossible with more positivistic approaches. While I agree that Goethe’s method of doing science can be viewed in this light, I would like to take a different approach and use the writings of the plant morphologist Agnes Arber in the process since she worked in the Goethean tradition and en- larged upon it. I argue here that Goethe’s way of science is done by many, if not most scientists, that there is not a strict dichotomy between these two ways of doing science, but rather scientists move between the two approaches so frequently and the shift is so seamless that it is difficult for them to even realize that it is happening.
    [Show full text]
  • CAMBRIDGE LIBRARY COLLECTION Books of Enduring Scholarly Value
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-01320-8 - Monocotyledons: A Morphological Study Agnes Arber Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE LIBRARY COLLECTION Books of enduring scholarly value Life Sciences Until the nineteenth century, the various subjects now known as the life sciences were regarded either as arcane studies which had little impact on ordinary daily life, or as a genteel hobby for the leisured classes. The increasing academic rigour and systematisation brought to the study of botany, zoology and other disciplines, and their adoption in university curricula, are reflected in the books reissued in this series. Monocotyledons Agnes Arber (1879–1960) was a prominent British botanist specialising in plant morphology, who focused her research on the monocotyledon group of flowering plants. She was the first female botanist to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 1946. This volume, first published as part of the Cambridge Botanical Handbooks series in 1925, provides an anatomical and comparative study of the monocotyledon group of plants with an analysis of the methods and objects of studying plant morphology. At the time of publication, comparative anatomy and morphology were the centre of botanical investigation; however there were differences between British and continental biologists concerning the aims of morphological study. In the introduction to this volume Arber reconciled these views by describing a distinction between pure and applied morphology, interpreting the differences in monocotyledonous species in light of this. The book contains an extensive bibliography and 160 figures. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-01320-8 - Monocotyledons: A Morphological Study Agnes Arber Frontmatter More information Cambridge University Press has long been a pioneer in the reissuing of out-of- print titles from its own backlist, producing digital reprints of books that are still sought after by scholars and students but could not be reprinted economically using traditional technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Character Description in Phylogenetic Analysis: Insights from Agnes Arber's Concept of the Plant
    Character Description in Phylogenetic Analysis: Insights from Agnes Arber's Concept of the Plant By: BRUCE K. KIRCHOFF Kirchoff, B. K. 2001. Character description in phylogenetic analysis: insights from Agnes Arber's concept of the plant. Annals of Botany 88: 1203-1214. Made available courtesy of Oxford University Press: http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/88/6/1203 ***Note: Figures may be missing from this format of the document Abstract: Throughout her work Agnes Arber argues for an inclusive, synthetic concept of the vascular plant as `consisting of a unification of every phase of its existence'. Her view of the leaf as a partial-shoot reflects this unification by relating the part (leaf) to the whole (shoot). According to Arber's view of the plant, the part can be fully understood only in the context of the whole. Morphological character description as it is currently practiced in systematics isin sharp contrast with this holistic view of plant structure. Systematic characters are removed from their context when they are described. This problem is greatest when characters are expressed verbally. Verbal descriptions convey little of the content of the character. A shift from verbal to visual charactersallows systematists to capture more information, including some of the context in which the character occurs. By using a photograph, the fringe on a labellum of Alpinia spp. (Zingiberaceae) can be viewed in the context of the labellum in a way that the word `fringe' cannot convey. The use of pictorial charactersalso allows reliable data storage and retrieval from databases, much as DNA sequences are currently being stored and retrieved.
    [Show full text]
  • Evo-Devo and the Search for Homology
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com SCIENCE @DIRECT Theory in Bi0sciences ELSEVIER Theory in Biosciences 124 (2005) 213-241 www.elsevier.de/thbio Evo-devo and the search for homology ("sameness") in biological systems Rolf Rutishauser*, Philip Moline Institut fffr Systematische Botanik der Universitdt Zffrich, Zollikerstr. 107, CH-8008 Zffrich, Switzerland Received 14 May 2005; accepted 8 September 2005 Abstract Developmental biology and evolutionary studies have merged into evolutionary develop- mental biology ("evo-devo"). This synthesis already influenced and still continues to change the conceptual framework of structural biology. One of the cornerstones of structural biology is the concept of homology. But the search for homology ("sameness") of biological structures depends on our favourite perspectives (axioms, paradigms). Five levels of homology ("sameness") can be identified in the literature, although they overlap to some degree: (i) serial homology (homonomy) within modular organisms, (ii) historical homology (synapo- morphy), which is taken as the only acceptable homology by many biologists, (iii) underlying homology (i.e., parallelism) in closely related taxa, (iv) deep evolutionary homology due to the "same" master genes in distantly related phyla, and (v) molecular homology exclusively at gene level. The following essay gives emphasis on the heuristic advantages of seemingly opposing perspectives in structural biology, with examples mainly from comparative plant morphology. The organization of the plant body in the majority of angiosperms led to the recognition of the classical root-shoot model. In some lineages bauplan rules were transcended during evolution and development. This resulted in morphological misfits such as the Podostemaceae, peculiar eudicots adapted to submerged river rocks.
    [Show full text]
  • Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution, a Chapter in the History of Botany
    CORNELL UNIVEkSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Library cornel, university ^^ ^^"^^ a ch „ and evolution, DATE DUE HERBALS THEIR ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF BOTANY 1470— 1670 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS aonDon: FETTER LANE, E.G. C. F. GLAY, Manager EBiniutgf) : loo, PRINCES STREET ILantOn: WILLIAM WESLEY & SON, 28, ESSEX STREET, STRANU Berlin : A. ASHER & CO. Ecipjig: F. A. BROCKHAUS i^cbj iorft: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Bombag anS Calcutta: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. Ail rights reserved LEONHARI) KUCHS (1501 — 1566). hntoria stufijnn, 1542 [Enura\'ing by Sperklc in l)e Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924019103872 HERBALS THEIR ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF BOTANY 1470— 1670 BY AGNES ARBER (Mrs E. A. NEWELL ARBER) D.Sc, F.L.S., FELLOW OF NEWNHAM COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE AND OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON G>K c. /^^4 !\i.lz^^zZ CTambttiigE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVEKSITY PRESS -,3" TO MY FATHER H. R. ROBERTSON "Wherefore it maye please your...gentlenes to take these my labours in good vvorthe, not according unto their unworthines, but accordinge unto my good mind and will, offering and gevinge them unto you." William Turner's Herbal, 1568. PREFACE TO add a volume such as the present to the existing multitude of books about books calls for some apology.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Maintained Significance of Botanical Illustration in Modern Plant Identification Guides
    University of Tennessee at Chattanooga UTC Scholar Student Research, Creative Works, and Honors Theses Publications 5-2018 On the maintained significance of botanical illustration in modern plant identification guides Andi Kur University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.utc.edu/honors-theses Part of the Botany Commons Recommended Citation Kur, Andi, "On the maintained significance of botanical illustration in modern plant identification guides" (2018). Honors Theses. This Theses is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research, Creative Works, and Publications at UTC Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UTC Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. On the Maintained Significance of Botanical Illustration in Modern Plant Identification Guides Andi Kur Departmental Honors Thesis The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Biology, Geology, & Environmental Science Examination Date: March 20th, 2018 Dr. Joey Shaw Dr. Timothy Gaudin UC Foundation Professor UC Foundation Professor; Senior Thesis Director Associate Department Head Department Examiner Dr. Hope Klug UC Foundation Associate Professor Department Examiner On the Significance of Botanical Illustration 1 CHAPTER 1: PREFACE This project began over 2.5 years ago when I, an artist by hobby, contacted Dr. Joey Shaw, the director of the Herbarium at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, with a request to sketch from specimens in the UCHT collection. Dr. Shaw, fortuitously in need of an illustrator, prompted me with the opportunity to collaborate with him in the creation of illustrations for the second edition of the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Tennessee.
    [Show full text]
  • Engraving the Herball: Frontispieces and the Visual Understanding of Botany in 16Th – 17Th Century England
    Engraving The Herball: Frontispieces and the visual understanding of botany in 16th – 17th century England Kaleigh Hunter S2052296 Supervisor: Dr. Marika Keblusek Second Reader: Dr. Stijn Bussels Master Museums & Collections 2017 / 2018 Contents INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: LEADING UP TO THE HERBALL ............................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST FRONTISPIECE, 1597 ...................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 3: THE TRANSITION .................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 4 : THE NEW FRONTISPIECE, 1633 ....................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 5: AFTER THE HERBALL ............................................................................................................. 35 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 39 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • John Ray's Cambridge Catalogue (1660)
    Oswald, P.H.; Preston, C.D.; Dourish, E.. 2010 'A great deal in a little room' - John Ray's Cambridge Catalogue (1660). [Exhibition catalogue] (Unpublished) This version available http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/17278 / NERC has developed NORA to enable users to access research outputs wholly or partially funded by NERC. Copyright and other rights for material on this site are retained by the authors and/or other rights owners. Users should read the terms and conditions of use of this material at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/policies.html#access Contact CEH NORA team at [email protected] The NERC and CEH trade marks and logos (‘the Trademarks’) are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. ‘A GREAT DEAL IN A LITTLE ROOM’ – JOHN RAY’S CAMBRIDGE CATALOGUE (1660) The publication of John Ray’s Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium (“A catalogue of plants growing around Cambridge”) in 1660 was an important event in the history of British science. It was the first product of Ray’s interest in natural history which developed in the 1650s when he was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. This led to a sequence of books of national and international significance published after Ray left Cambridge in 1662. The Catalogus also has a special place in the affections of British botanists as the first County Flora, as a systematic account of the plants of a county has come to be known. As Ray’s biographer Canon Charles Raven commented, “Few books of such compass have contained so great a store of information and learning or exerted so great an influence upon the future; no book has so evidently initiated a new era in British botany”.
    [Show full text]
  • Carol-Herbal Booklist
    Sources of Information: When looking into/researching a new topic, it is always helpful to have good quality sources of information or recommendations. There are many, many herb books available nowadays – some on a specific topic or aspect of herbs, others more general. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to prepare a fully encompassing up-to-date book list and in any event every year a new slew of books are published on the many different aspects of herbs. So we’ve gone for a belt and braces approach and have listed out some of the books that Carol Burnett has found helpful and useful; some authors’ names who are well-qualified herbal authorities (most have trained as professional herbalists); and a list of websites that are reputable. Recommended, authoritative authors include the following: Andrew Chevallier Simon Mills David Hoffman (An American herbalist) Matthew Wood (An American herbalist) Juliette de Bairacli Levy Anne McIntyre Julie Brunton-Seal Kim Walker Penelope Ody Zoe Hawes Rosemary Gladstar (American herbalist) James A Duke (American Herbalist) Nicolette and Elaine Perry * Henriette Kress (Finnish Herbalist, but Jekka McVicar (for herb growing) Thomas Bartram (Dilston Physic Garden) trained in U.S. * Professor Elaine Perry is a neuroscientist who created this Physic Garden at Dilston and works there with her daughter, Nicolette, also a scientist. She and Nicolette have written an excellent book ‘Botanical Brain Balms – Medicinal Plants for Memory, Mood and Mind’. For those with an interest in using herbal medicines for animals (horses, dogs, cats) then a remarkable herbalist called Juliette de Bairacli Levy wrote some books specifically about treating animals.
    [Show full text]
  • Biographical Register
    1 Biographical Register This register includes the names of authors active in the production of popular science literature between approximately 1900 and 1945, along with a small number of late- Victorian figures whose works were still available in the early years of the new century. It is fairly comprehensive (although by no means complete) for the authors of books in self-education series, but makes no attempt to list all the authors who wrote for magazines. A small number of authors who wrote frequently for popular science magazines has been added to the list originally published, along with authors of books not previously noted (new names are indicated by an asterisk). The main purpose of the list is to illustrate the training and background of the writers, with a view to establishing how many had qualifications in science or were professional scientists (see chapter 12 of Science for All for an analysis). For some minor figures it has been impossible to obtain independent biographical information, but degrees or affiliations listed on the title pages of their books are included. University degrees (with subject where known) are listed. The most basic qualification was the BA (Batchelor of Arts) or BSc (Batchelor of Science).but both Oxford and Cambridge give the BA for study in either the arts or the sciences. The Oxbridge BA is converted automatically to an MA after four years. It was not uncommon for someone earning a BSc from a provincial university to take a BA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge instead of moving straight on to a higher degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Evodevo: Past and Future of Continuum and Process Plant Morphology
    philosophies Review EvoDevo: Past and Future of Continuum and Process Plant Morphology Rolf Rutishauser Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland; [email protected] Received: 7 October 2020; Accepted: 26 November 2020; Published: 1 December 2020 Abstract: Plants and animals are both important for studies in evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo). Plant morphology as a valuable discipline of EvoDevo is set for a paradigm shift. Process thinking and the continuum approach in plant morphology allow us to perceive and interpret growing plants as combinations of developmental processes rather than as assemblages of structural units (“organs”) such as roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. These dynamic philosophical perspectives were already favored by botanists and philosophers such as Agnes Arber (1879–1960) and Rolf Sattler (*1936). The acceptance of growing plants as dynamic continua inspires EvoDevo scientists such as developmental geneticists and evolutionary biologists to move towards a more holistic understanding of plants in time and space. This review will appeal to many young scientists in the plant development research fields. It covers a wide range of relevant publications from the past to present. Keywords: process philosophy; scientific perspectivism; developmental genetics; plant structure ontology; homology; land plant phylogeny; morphological misfits; flower; phyllotaxis; Utricularia 1. Introduction Plant morphology is the study of the physical form and structure of plants. Literally, the term “morphology” is derived from the Greek roots: morphe, which means form and/or structure, and logos, meaning discourse or investigation [1]. Plant morphology usually includes plant anatomy, which is the study of the internal structure of plants, as seen at the microscopic level.
    [Show full text]
  • The World of the Renaissance Herbal
    1 The world of the Renaissance herbal Brent Elliott A herbal is a treatise on medicinal plants, traditionally intended for an audience of doctors and apothecaries; the purpose was to enable them to know which plants to use for medical purposes, and how to identify them in the field. As a genre, the herbal extends back into classical times, though there is only one title that has survived in complete form from that period: the Materia medica of Dioscorides, dating from the first century AD.1 There was a mediaeval tradition, passed initially through Arab hands, which was in large part based on Dioscorides, but added to over the centuries by local herb lore and legend; the first printed herbals of the late fifteenth century fell into this tradition.2 What we may define as the Renaissance herbal arose in reaction against this tradition. During a period of a little over a century, between 1530 and the 1640s, the Renaissance herbal developed and reached its prime. This paper is far too short to give a very detailed account of its subject, but I will attempt to convey the most salient points about a genre that has received too little attention from scholars of Renaissance literature, however much attention it has received from botanists.3 HERBALS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOTANY What we may term the Renaissance herbal arose specifically from the demand that the traditions of plant lore be re-examined, and that the works of Pliny and Dioscorides be separated from the accumulated encrustation of centuries of myth and folklore.
    [Show full text]