botany

Starting from the botanical concept of plant type, the question is raised whether the concept of type can also be applied to plant communities. This is possible with the help of plant sociology, which has developed a comprehensive methodology for this purpose. The individual steps of this procedure are described and brought into relation to… read more

Homo-iconics (self-imaging) describes how the design type of the spermatophytes, which appears most concisely in the design type of annual dicotyledons, correlates in its imagery with the individual leaf as well as the design of the three divisions of the spermatophytes. Leaf, single plant and spermatophyte type are homoiconic and show at the… read more

There are already a number of works on the biology of tree shapes, which primarily deal with conifers and European deciduous trees. In the present essay, an attempt is made to characterize the tree shapes within the worldwide landscape forms and climatic zones more
precisely and to compare them with each other… read more

Based on the hypothesis that highly succulent plants in their entirety could be compared with fruits, the correlation between their special formation of shoots, flowers, thorns, fruits and leaves is investigated by means of selected cacti. Special attention is paid to the question of the nature of the stars of thorns. Finally, their… read more

For the hyperbolic measure George Adams introduced the term growth measure. This name suggests that we can find the growth measure in growth processes in nature. In the present paper we show that the hyperbolic measure or growth measure can in fact be found in the distances between the knots of horsetail (Equisetum arvense). An approximation… read more

Some botanical observations on the origin of functionality through degeneration

The obvious correlation between the special form of a plant species and its living conditions easily leads to the assumption that a plant organism has, so to speak, 'made' its organs like tools in order to be able to exist. Here we shall attempt to show how… read more

The Labiates or Larniaceae comprise one of the biggest and distinctive plant families. They feature a lack of leaf metamorphosis of any kind, leaves arranged in opposite pairs on a square stern, the presence of highly specifically shaped zygomorphic flowers and the varied occurrence of aromatic substances (etheric oils). If we examine the… read more

Nicolaus E. Dahlberg: Die Metamorphosen der Pflanzen (Stockholm 1755)

In 1755, under the direction of Carl von Linné, the Swedish botanist Nicolaus (= Nils) E. Dahlberg (1735-1820) published his botanical dissertation Metamorphoses Plantarum. It deals with seven types of plant metamorphosis. Its focus is on the formation of the organs… read more

The European species of the Ranunculaceae genus Clematis L.

This text is based on the chapter entitled 'Clematis' from an unfinished book manuscript by Thomas Göbel. It was edited by Angelika Heinze for publication here as a single article. The European species of the genus Clematis are presented and organised into a series of… read more

The first part of this paper deals with the camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora [L.] J. PRESL), a member of the Lauraceae family, and a source of the therapeutically significant etheric oil, camphor. This study addresses the question as to whether a thorough treatment of the therapeutic and toxic effects of camphor, as well as of the… read more