Plant systematics Flashcards
What is plant systematics?
Biological classification of plants that figures out how to group plants and define a species
Why do we want to do plant systematics?
We need unambiguous names so others know what we are talking about, and so we know what plants are related to each other, and it is the basis for ecosite classification
Why would we want to know which plants are related to each other?
They will often have similar characteristics and similar uses, and often have similar medicinal properties
What is the story of the Pacific Yew?
Breast cancer was largely untreatable until paclitaxel was discovered in the bark of the Pacific Yew and found to be an effective treatment. Problem was that the tree was rare and it took the bark of 3 trees to treat one person. Related species were examined and found docetaxel in the European Yew, which is more common and the drug was found in the leaves instead of the bark. Docetaxel was even more effective against breast cancer
