– Etymology:
– Word “flora” originates from the Latin name of Flora, the Roman goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility.
– Term “flora” came into use in the sixteenth century in poetry to describe natural vegetation and later as a catalog of such vegetation.
– Jules Thurmann in 1849 differentiated between vegetation (general appearance) and flora (taxonomic composition) for the first time.
– In the seventeenth century, “Flora” was used to describe the flowers of an artificial garden.
– Earlier, vegetation and flora were used interchangeably.
– Classifications:
– Plants are categorized into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate.
– Flora can refer to the plant life of a specific era, such as fossil flora.
– Flora can be divided into native, agricultural/horticultural, and weed flora.
– The classification of weed flora now includes weedy species, invasive species, and agriculturally undesirable native/introduced species.
– Many plants previously considered weeds have been found to be beneficial to ecosystems.
– Documentation:
– The World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions classifies floras geographically.
– A publication documenting the flora of an area or period is known as a flora.
– Flora publications may contain diagnostic keys for identification.
– Early examples of flora books include “Flora Danica” and “Flora Sinensis.”
– Some floras are now published digitally on CD-ROMs or websites.
– References:
– The botanical continents are used for geographical classification of floras.
– Specialist botanical knowledge is often required to effectively use floras.
– Published floras may include dichotomous keys for plant identification.
– Various publications and journals focus on different aspects of flora documentation.
– The first book titled “Flora” referred to the plant world of a specific region.
– External Links:
– Wikimedia Commons hosts media related to flora.
– External resources like publications and websites provide further information on flora.
– Flora documentation is essential for understanding plant life in different regions.
– Flora classifications help in organizing plant species based on various criteria.
– Etymology of the word “flora” traces back to Roman mythology.
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Flora (pl.: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animals is fauna, and for fungi, it is funga. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora as in the terms gut flora or skin flora.
