SEM III (Minor)

Title of the Course : Angiosperm Systematics

Nature of course : Minor-III 

Course code : BOT-MIN-03 

Total Credits 04 Marks : 100 [End: 60 (Theory: 45, Pract: 15), In: 40]

Unit 1: 9 classes 

Significance of Plant Systematics  Introduction to systematics; Plant identification, Classification, Nomenclature. Evidencesfrom palynology, cytology, phytochemistry and molecular data. Field inventory; Functions of Herbarium; Important herbaria and botanical gardens of the world and India; Virtual herbarium; E-flora; Documentation: Flora, Monographs, Journals; Keys:Single access and Multi-access. 

Unit 2: 5 classes

Taxonomic hierarchy  Concept of taxa (family, genus, species); Categories and taxonomic hierarchy; Species concept (taxonomic, biological, evolutionary). 

Unit 3: 06 classes

Botanical nomenclature  Principles and rules (ICN); Ranks and names; Typification, author citation, valid publication, rejection of names, principle of priority and its limitations; Names of hybrids. 

Unit 4: 10 classes

Systems of classification  Major contributions of Theophrastus, Bauhin, Tournefort, Linnaeus, Adanson, de Candolle, Bessey, Hutchinson, Takhtajan and Cronquist; Classification systems of Bentham and Hooker (upto series) and Engler and Prantl (upto series); Brief reference of Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV) classification.

Unit 5: 7 classes

Biometrics, numerical taxonomy and cladistics  Characters; Variations; OTUs, character weighting and coding; Cluster analysis; Phenograms, cladograms (definitions and differences).Methods of illustrating evolutionary relationship (phylogenetic tree, cladogram). 

Unit 6: 8 classes

Phylogeny of Angiosperms and Study of some important families Terms and concepts (primitive and advanced, homology and analogy, parallelism and convergence, monophyly, Paraphyly, polyphyly and clades). Origin and evolution of angiosperms; Co-evolution of angiosperms and animals. Key feature of Magnoliaceae, Lamiaceae, Solanaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Zingiberaceae, & Poaceae

Lab activities 

1. Study of vegetative and floral characters of the following families as per the availability of local specimens 

a. Magnoliaceae 

b. Brassicaceae 

c. Malvaceae 

d. Lamiaceae 

e. Solanaceae 

f. Asteraceae 

g. Poaceae 

h. Zingiberaceae 

i. Orchidaceae 

2. Mounting of a properly dried and pressed specimen of any wild plant with herbarium label (to be submitted in the record book).

Suggested Readings 

1. Singh, (2012). Plant Systematics: Theory and Practice Oxford & IBH Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 3rdedition. 

2. Jeffrey, C. (1982). An Introduction to Plant Taxonomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 

3. Judd, W.S., Campbell, C.S., Kellogg, E.A., Stevens, P.F. (2002). Plant Systematics-A Phylogenetic Approach. Sinauer Associates Inc., U.S.A. 2nd edition. 

4. Maheshwari, J.K. (1963). Flora of Delhi. CSIR, New Delhi.