What is flora?
The concept of "flora" arose in ancient Rome. In the Roman pantheon was the goddess of flowers and spring flowering - Flora. The Romans believed that it was she who was responsible for the welfare of all plants.
Today, the name of this goddess has become a biological term. It was introduced in the scientific use in the middle of the XVII century by the Polish botanist Mikhail Boim. So, by flora in botany, we understand the totality of species of plants that are distributed on a certain territory and have developed historically, for example, the flora of Sweden or the flora of the desert. .
The botany section that studies these populationsspecies of plants, is called floristry. It is interesting that plants that live in an artificial climate (greenhouses, a room, a greenhouse) are not considered botanists to flora. Therefore, it is not entirely correct to call a florist a person who grows flowers in a greenhouse.
True, the term is interpreted in the most general sense. And under what is a flora, often understand all kinds of plants on the planet.
In addition, the term "flora" is used to characterize microorganisms inherent in certain organs of animals. For example, the microflora of the skin or intestinal microflora.
Having found out what a flora is, let's move on to its classification.
Classification of flora
To make it easier for scientists to describe individual groups of plants, some special names have been adopted. Examples:
- Brioflora - flora of mosses;
- Mycoflora is the flora of lichens;
- Algoflora - algae flora;
- Dendroflora is the flora of woody plants.
To study the flora, there are various methods: geographical, genetic and age analyzes. They allow carrying out among the plants an inventory for further study, conservation and crossing of species.
Now you know what flora is. The meanings of other words you will learn from the articles in the Definitions section.
