Lessons 1–3 · 3 lessons · O. Pratov, A. Tukhtaev, F. Azimova, I. Saparboev, M. Umaraliyeva. Biology (Botany), Grade 6. O‘zbekiston Publishing House, Tashkent, 2017
1
Botany — the science of plants
Textbook: pp. 4–6
GoalExplain what botany studies, its main branches, and the importance of plants in nature and in human life.
New words
botany — the science of plants · botanikaphotosynthesis · fotosintezmorphology — external structure · morfologiyaRed Book — list of endangered species · «Qizil kitob»
Explanation
Botany is the part of biology that studies plants. Its name comes from the Greek “botane” (herb, greenery, plant). It has branches: morphology studies a plant’s external structure, anatomy its internal structure, physiology its life processes (respiration, photosynthesis, transpiration), and systematics sorts plants into groups. Geobotany studies how plants are spread over the Earth, ecology their links with the environment, paleobotany fossil plants, and algology the algae. Green plants make organic matter by photosynthesis and release oxygen, so they are the source of food and oxygen for other living things. People get food, clothing, building materials, paper and medicines from plants. Species at risk of disappearing are entered in the Red Book of Uzbekistan and protected.
Green plant→Photosynthesis→Organic matter and oxygen→Food and oxygen for animals and people
Worked examples
Anatomy: looking at onion skin under a microscope and counting its cells — studying internal structure. Morphology: describing a leaf’s shape, edge and veins — external structure.
The ancient Greek scholar Theophrastus was among the first to put knowledge about plants into a system. Beruni (973–1048) described medicinal plants in his “Kitab as-Saydana fit-tibb”, and Ibn Sina (980–1037) in his “Canon of Medicine” and “Kitab ush-shifo”.
Class activity
“Branch cards”: each card has one research question (for example, “Which plants grow in the desert?”). Groups decide which branch (morphology, physiology, ecology, geobotany) studies it.
Practice
1
From which language does the word botany come and what does it mean?
From Greek (“botane”): herb, greenery, plant.
2
Which branch answers each question: speed of root growth; leaf shape; the group a plant belongs to by origin?