BIOL 423: Medicinal Botany Lecture 3 - Plant Phylogeny

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to plant phylogeny and systematic classification from the BIOL 423 lecture notes.

Systematics

The scientific study of biological diversity and its evolutionary history.

Taxonomy

The process of identifying, naming, and classifying species.

Binomial Nomenclature

A two-part naming system for species, consisting of the genus and species names.

Type Specimen

A dried plant specimen that serves as a reference for identifying species.

Monophyletic Group

A group composed of an ancestor and all its descendants.

Paraphyletic Group

A group that includes a common ancestor but not all of its descendants.

Polyphyletic Group

A group with two or more ancestors but lacking the true common ancestor of its members.

Homology

Similar characteristics originating from a common ancestor.

Analogy

Similar structures that arise from convergent evolution, not from a common ancestor.

Cladistics

A method of classifying organisms based on shared derived characteristics.

Molecular Systematics

The use of molecular data, such as DNA sequences, to analyze evolutionary relationships.

Eukarya

One of the three domains of life that includes animals, plants, and fungi.

Endosymbiotic Theory

The theory that explains the origin of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic cells through symbiosis.

Heterotroph

Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms.

Autotroph

Organisms that produce their own food, typically through photosynthesis.

Alternation of Generations

The process in plants where a multicellular haploid gametophyte generation alternates with a multicellular diploid sporophyte generation.