Zoophyte

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Tartar lamb illustration Vegetable lamb (Lee, 1887).jpg
Tartar lamb illustration
Zoophytes in 1833 book. Zoophytes- 1. 2. Lobophyllie anguleuse var. (N.-Irlande.); 3.- 6. Caryophyllie fasciculee. (Vanikoro.); 7.- 11. Lobophyllie orangee. (Nouv.-Hollande.); 12.- 15. Dendrophyllie rougeatre. (NYPL b13624459-1267200).jpg
Zoophytes in 1833 book.

A zoophyte (animal-plant) is an obsolete term for an organism thought to be intermediate between animals and plants, or an animal with plant-like attributes or appearance. In the 19th century they were reclassified as Radiata which included various taxa, a term superseded by Coelenterata referring more narrowly to the animal phyla Cnidaria (coral animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their allies), sponges, and Ctenophora (comb jellies).

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A group of strange creatures that exist somewhere on, or between, the boundaries of plants and animals kingdoms were the subject of considerable debate in the eighteenth century. Some naturalists believed that they were a blend of plant and animal; other naturalists considered them to be entirely either plant or animal (such as sea anemones). [1]

Ancient and medieval to early modern era

In Eastern cultures such as Ancient China fungi were classified as plants in the Traditional Chinese Medicine texts, and cordyceps, and in particular Ophiocordyceps sinensis , were considered zoophytes. [2]

Zoophytes are common in medieval and renaissance era herbals, notable examples including the Tartar Lamb, a legendary plant which grew sheep as fruit. [3] Zoophytes appeared in many influential early medical texts, such as Dioscorides's De Materia Medica and subsequent adaptations and commentaries on that work, notably Mattioli's Discorsi. Zoophytes are frequently seen as medieval attempts to explain the origins of exotic, unknown plants with strange properties (such as cotton, in the case of the Tartar Lamb as theorized by Henry Lee, Fellow of the Linnean Society in the book The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary). [4] [5] [6]

Reports of zoophytes continued into the seventeenth century and were commented on by many influential thinkers of the time period, including Francis Bacon. It was not until 1646 that claims of zoophytes began to be concretely refuted, and skepticism towards claims of zoophytes mounted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [3]

18th to 19th century, natural history

As natural history and natural philosophy developed in the 18th century, there was considerable debate and disagreements between naturalists about organisms on or near the boundary between the animal and plant kingdoms, and how to relate them in taxonomy. Interest in the topic began in the 1730s with the research by Abraham Trembley into polyps. [7]

When Carl Linnaeus published the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758, marking the start of zoological nomenclature, he set out three divisions of the Kingdom of Nature: rocks, plants and animals, "though all three exist in the lithophytes", the corals. He defined zoophytes as "a composite small organism, with both animal and plant characteristics". He acknowledged contributions from the coralline expert Ellis by describing him as a "lynx-eyed discoverer of zoophytes". In 1761 he wrote to Ellis that "zoophytes have a mere vegetable life, and are increased every year under their bark, like trees" as shown by growth rings on the trunk of Gorgonia, they are "therefore vegetables, with flowers like small animals. As zoophytes are, many of them, covered with a stony coat, the Creator has been pleased that they should receive nourishment by their naked flowers. He has therefore furnished each with a pore, which we call a mouth." After wide research, in 1786 Ellis was still unconvinced "what or where the link is that divides the animal and vegetable kingdoms of Nature", and pressed Linnaeus to classify most as animals. He subsequently proposed that the animals of the corals construct their own structures, in a book completed by Daniel Solander. [8]

Georges Cuvier in his Le Règne Animal of 1817 titled one of his four divisions (Embranchements) of the animal kingdom "Les Zoophytes ou Animaux Rayonnés". [9] An 1834 English translation uses the term Radiata, and titles the division "The Zoophytes, or Animalia Radiata", [10] an expanded 1840 translation notes that "Neither of these names is literally applicable, for all the animals in the division are not radiated; and the very name Zoophyte, 'plant - animal,' is a contradiction. In England, the term Zoophyte is much more restricted than in France, but it is equally inapplicable, excepting, perhaps, to those species, about which there are still disputes as to whether they are animals or vegetables." [11] Despite its scientific obsolescence, Charles Darwin continued to use the term throughout his studies.

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Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:

  1. The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his Systema Naturae (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus there are three kingdoms, divided into classes, and they, in turn, into lower ranks in a hierarchical order.
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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Cuvier</span> French naturalist, zoologist and paleontologist (1769–1832)

Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier, known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils.

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Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian.

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The olive-backed sunbird, also known as the garden sunbird, is a species of sunbird endemic to the Philippines except the Palawan island group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiata</span> Taxonomic rank that has been used to classify radially symmetric animals

Radiata or Radiates is a historical taxonomic rank that was used to classify animals with radially symmetric body plans. The term Radiata is no longer accepted, as it united several different groupings of animals that do not form a monophyletic group under current views of animal phylogeny. The similarities once offered in justification of the taxon, such as radial symmetry, are now taken to be the result of either incorrect evaluations by early researchers or convergent evolution, rather than an indication of a common ancestor. Because of this, the term is used mostly in a historical context.

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Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, the face of a human being has a plane of symmetry down its centre, or a pine cone displays a clear symmetrical spiral pattern. Internal features can also show symmetry, for example the tubes in the human body which are cylindrical and have several planes of symmetry.

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The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary is a legendary zoophyte of Central Asia, once believed to grow sheep as its fruit. It was believed the sheep were connected to the plant by an umbilical cord and grazed the land around the plant. When all accessible foliage was gone, both the plant and sheep died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coelenterata</span> Term encompassing animal phyla Cnidaria and Ctenophora

Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phyla Cnidaria and Ctenophora. The name comes from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos) 'hollow', and ἔντερον (énteron) 'intestine', referring to the hollow body cavity common to these two phyla. They have very simple tissue organization, with only two layers of cells, and radial symmetry. Some examples are corals, which are typically colonial, and hydrae, jellyfish, and sea anemones, which are solitary. Coelenterata lack a specialized circulatory system relying instead on diffusion across the tissue layers.

Fragmentation in multicellular or colonial organisms is a form of asexual reproduction or cloning, where an organism is split into fragments upon maturation and the spilted part becomes the new individual.

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The satyr tragopan also known as the crimson horned pheasant, is a pheasant found in the Himalayan reaches of India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. They reside in moist oak and rhododendron forests with dense undergrowth and bamboo clumps. They range from 2400 to 4200 meters in summer and 1800 meters in winter. The male is about 70 cm long.

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References

  1. ↑ Kirkpatrick, E. M., ed. (1983). Chambers 20th Century Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers. p. 1524.
  2. ↑ Halpern, Miller (2002). Medicinal Mushrooms. New York, New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc. pp. 64–65. ISBN   0-87131-981-0.
  3. 1 2 Appleby, John H. (1997). "The Royal Society and the Tartar Lamb". Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 51 (1): 23–34. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1997.0003. JSTOR   532033. S2CID   71554165.
  4. ↑ Mabey, Richard (2015). The Cabaret of Plants : Botany and the Imagination. London: Profile Books. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-86197-662-8 . Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  5. ↑ Lee, Henry (1887). The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary : A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. pp. 1–60. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Large, Mark F.; John E. Braggins (2004). Tree Ferns . Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p.  360. ISBN   978-0-88192-630-9.
  7. ↑ Gibson, Susannah (December 1, 2012). "On Being An Animal, or, the Eighteenth-Century Zoophyte Controversy in Britain". History of Science. 50 (4): 453–476. doi:10.1177/007327531205000404. ISSN   0073-2753. S2CID   143139550.
  8. ↑ James Bowen (6 January 2015). The Coral Reef Era: From Discovery to Decline: A history of scientific investigation from 1600 to the Anthropocene Epoch. Springer. pp. 29–. ISBN   978-3-319-07479-5.
  9. ↑ Cuvier, Georges. 1817. Le règne animal distribué d'après son organisation pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux. 4 vols. Paris: Deterville.
  10. ↑ Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. Volume 12./
  11. ↑ Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert De baron Cuvier (1840). Cuvier's Animal Kingdom,: Arranged According to Its Organisation; Forming the Basis for a Natural History of Animals, and an Introduction to Comparative Anatomy. Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles, by Edward Blyth. The Fishes and Radiata, by Robert Mudie. The Molluscous Animals, by George Johnston, ... The Articulated Animals, by J.O. Westwood, ... Illustrated by Three Hundred Engravings on Wood. Wm. S. Orr and Company. p. 638.
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