In ancient Rome, among the host of gods and goddesses, Flora was especially distinguished. She was responsible for the flowering of plants in the spring and was considered the patroness of all flowers. Today, the name of this entity is used in botany, biology, and very often in everyday communication. What is flora in the modern sense?
Traditionally, this word means a combination of all kinds of plants that historically grow in a certain territory. So, they usually say "flora of the Earth", "flora of Africa." It can be a modern state of affairs or existing earlier. But if you specify more specifically what flora is, then modern botanists by this word mean only vascular plants located on the territory. Other species are not considered in this aggregate. Interestingly, the local flora does not include those flowers that grow in houses on window sills, as well as those located in greenhouses, conservatories or greenhouses - that is, in places where climatic conditions are created by humans.
There is a separate science, which clearly explains what the flora of each particular region is. She studies each plant individually, as well as the entire landscape symbiosis, which is located in a certain territorial framework. This science is called "floristry." Specialists in this industry are involved in compiling notes - lists of plants and their brief descriptions for each individual area.
Historically, this term was first used as far back as the 17th century by the botanist Mikhail Boim. And then the baton was picked up by the famous scientist Karl Linney, who created an extensive work devoted to the plant world of Lapland. But not only flowers were described in this book. Flora in the understanding of Linnaeus also included mushrooms, and not just plants alone. In total, in the monumental work of the scientist, as many as 534 species were described.
But besides the obvious and remarkable part of the plant world, this term also covers its invisible part. Photos of flora, invisible to the naked human eye, can be found on the pages of any textbook on microbiology. This term is often called the totality of all microorganisms that inhabit any body. For example, such an expression as “intestinal flora” is not uncommon in medicine and dietetics.
From the point of view of classification, the entire population of plants can be distributed according to several criteria. So, from the point of view of origin, the native and adventive flora is isolated. From the name it becomes clear that the first of them involves the totality of those plants that have inhabited the region for a long time. What is adventitious flora in this case? These are plants that were introduced, cultivated, or accidentally transferred to the territory of this region not so long ago.
According to the totality of plant taxa, this term will also be divided into:
- algoflora (algae);
- dendroflora (trees);
- brioflora (mosses);
- lichenflora (lichens);
- mycoflora (mushrooms).
Thus, it becomes clear that this term is not limited to colors alone, as its ancestor goddess, it is much broader and involves the study of the whole plant world, rich and diverse.
