In ancient Rome, among the host of gods and goddesses emphasizes Flora.She was responsible for flowering plants in the spring and was considered the patroness of all colors.Today the name of the entity is used in botany, biology, and very often in everyday communication.What is the flora in the modern sense?
Traditionally, this word means the combination of all sorts of plants growing in the historically defined territory.So, usually say "the flora of the Earth", "flora of Africa."This can be a state of the art, or pre-existing.But if you clarify specifically what the flora, the modern botany that word meant only vascular plants in the territory.Other species are not considered in this population.Interestingly, of the local flora are those flowers that grow on the window sills in the homes, as well as being in the greenhouses, conservatories or greenhouses - that is, in places where climatic conditions created by man.
There is a separate science that explains clearly what the flora of a given region.It examines each plant individually, and the whole landscape symbiosis in a specific territorial framework.This science is called "floristry".Experts in the industry are committed to make notes - lists of plants and their brief descriptions for each individual area.
Historically, the term was first used in the XVII century botanist Michael Boym.Then he picked up the baton of the famous scientist Carl Linnaeus, who created an extensive work devoted to plant life in Lapland.But in this book describes not only the flowers.Flora understanding Linnaeus also included mushrooms, not just one plant.All them in the monumental work of scientists has been described as many as 534 species.
But besides the obvious and noticeable part of the plant world, the term also covers the invisible part.Photos of flora, invisible to the naked human eye, can be found on the pages of any textbook on microbiology.This term is often referred to as the collection of all microorganisms inhabiting any body.For example, not uncommon in medicine and dietetics such an expression as "gut flora".
In terms of the classification of the totality of the plant can be distributed on several grounds.So, in terms of origin, isolated flora native and adventitious.From here it becomes clear that the first of these involves the collection of those plants that have inhabited the region for a long time.What adventive flora in this case?These are the plants that were imported, cultured or accidentally moved to the territory of this region not so long ago.
plant taxa In the aggregate, this term is also divided into:
- algal flora (seaweed);
- dendroflora (trees);
- bryoflora (mosses);
- lichen flora (lichens);
- microflora (fungi).
Thus, it becomes clear that this term is not limited to flowers, as his ancestor goddess, it is much broader and involves the study of the entire flora, rich and varied.
