Pinaceae to Palmaceae: The Magical World of Botany (Part-1)

If you see the world of botany it is so much vast and boundless, I just don’t have the words to describe how much beautiful and complex is the world of the mighty plant kingdom.

I would rather say that the plant kingdom is much more intricate and immense than the animal kingdom I have a never ending fascination towards botany.

This always comes to my mind about trees that how can they be so much different in appearance; for example like the two tree families ‘Pinaceae’ and ‘Palmaceae’ ( Palmaceae also called Arecaceae) these two families are very different from each other and they have done countless adaptations for their survival according to the surroundings.

‘Pinaceae’ also commonly called the Conifers, this family mostly consists large coniferous trees and few shrubs the trees grow very tall and are mostly evergreen excluding a few deciduous species Pinaceae are found in majority of the Northern Hemisphere.

Pinaceae are the second largest after the ‘Cupressaceae’ (Cupressaceae or Cypress is a conifer family that thrives all over the world consisting of 27-30 genera with over 130-140 species this family is first for having the largest geographical range) in most widespread geographical range.

The scientific classification of the Pinaceae is even more interesting so let’s discuss about this.

Pinaceae fall under the clade of Gymnosperms and Tracheophytes, then coming under the division of Pinophyta, class of Pinopsida and order of Pinales.

Pinaceae family consists of 11-12 genera like the Pinus, Abies, Larix, Picea, Tsuga ect. and with about 220-250 species.

Classification of the terms like: Gymnosperm, Tracheophytes, Pinophyta, Pinopsida, Pinales

Gymnosperms-The word Gymnosperm comes from Greek origin which simply means ‘Naked Seed’ thus the plants and trees who come under this clade have no outer fleshy covering called the fruit.

Tracheophytes- They are Vascular Plants that have lignified tissues for transporting water and minerals throughout the plant.

Pinophyta- Pinophyta also known as conifers are a group of vascular land plants that contain a single extant class called the Pinopsida.

Pinopsida- They are a group of plants or trees that give cone bearing seeds or are gymnosperms.

Pinales- This is a scientific name of conifers that fall under the division of Pinophyta and class of Pinopsida.

Therefore this is the classification of the vast family of Pinaceae.

To be continued in (Part 2)