Economic Botany 1.pptx

Edible oils
Arachis hypogaea Brassica campestr

Non edible oils
Pinus longifolia
Ricinus communis

Essential oils
Santalum album Cinnamomum camphor

Syzygium aromaticum Mentha piperita

Hevea brasiliensis Ficus elastica
Parthenium argentatum

Introduction
 Economic botany: Application of botanical
knowledge to the well-being of mankind
Food Clothing Shelter
Cereals: Rice, maize, wheat,
oat, barley and rye;
Millets: sorghum, pearl millet,
finger millet etc.
Pulses; Vegetables; Fruits
Fiber-yeilding plants
Cotton
(Jute and major fibers)
Woods
Bamboo, Reed, cane,
Thatch, grass, etc.
Primary necessities of man:

To meet requirements men have
tried to tap plants as sources for
their comforts and varied use by
exploiting their scientific
knowledge and has been
successful in this direction to a
great extent.

Useful plant products
 Wood
 Fibers
 Drugs
 Tannins
 Dyes
 Paper
 Sugar
 Starch
 Gum
 Resin
 Rubber
 Vegetables
 Fatty oils
 Tea
 Coffee
 Cocoa
 Tobacco
 Spices
 Cork etc.
Utility of bacteria, fungi, algae and liche

Important plants and their products

Food plants
Cereals and millets
Six true cereals
Rice, wheat, maize, rye, oat and Barley
High percentage of carbohydrate, protein, fats and vitamins
Small grains (sorghum,
Peral millet and finger
millet)

Legumes and Nuts
 Legume: High percentage of proteins, carbohydrate
and fats
(Gram, black gram, pea, pigeon pea and lentil etc.)
Nuts: one celled, one seeded dry fruits with hard
pericarp.
(High protein and fat)

Vegetables and fruits
 Contains carbohydrate, mineral salts and vitamins
 Fruit is seed bearing portion of plants, and consit of
ripened ovary and its content.
 Simple fruit: Single ovary
 Compound fruit: More than one ovary
 Aggregate fruits: numerous carpels of the same
flower
 Composite fruits: ovaries of different flower

Tropical and temperate
 Tropical: Mango, Citrus fruits, Litchi, guava, banana,
Sugar apple, fig, papaya, Pine-apple etc.
 Temperate: Apple, pear, Plum, peach, Strawberries,
grapes etc.

Sugar Coffee
Building
and
furniture
Rubber
Cotton
Tobacco
Vegetable
Fats
Drugs
Fruits
and
vegetable
s
Starch
Alcohol
Industry
Nitrogen
fixation

Economic Importance of Algae
 Algae includes a wide range of prokaryotic and
eukaryotic marine and fresh water organisms, all of
which engage in the process of photosynthesis.
 These are economically important in many ways. It
can be used as a food source, as fodder, in fish
farming, and as a fertilizer.
 It also plays a key role in alkaline land reclaiming,
soil binding, and is used in a variety of commercial
products.
 They are also harmful in many ways.

Algae as Food
 Chlorella, a
unicellular green
alga, possesses a
high quality of
food value.
 It has about 50 %
proteins and 20%
lipids and
carbohydrates.
Besides, it contains
vitamins A, B, C, K and
essential amino acids.

 Porphyra
tenera (a red
alga) is known
as Amanori in
Japan and the
preparation is
known as
Asakusa Nori.

 Laminaria (a
brown alga)
yields a food
product known as
kombu or konbu
 Young stipes of
Laminaria are eaten
directly in certain
parts of Europe and
America.

 Nostoc ( blue
green alga)
balls of
terrestrial
species are
collected,
boiled and
consumed as
food by the
Chinese.

 Alaria (a
brown alga)
yields a
product
known as
Sarumen in
Japan.

 Monostroma
(a green alga)
yields food
product
Aonori in
Japan.

 Ulva lactuca(a
green alga)
used in salad
and soups.

 Rhodymenia
palmate (a red
alga) used as
food and also
as
confectionary
named dulse.

Algae as Fodder
 Rhodymenia
palmate has
come to be
known as ‘Sheep’s
weed’ since sheep
are very fond of
this particular
alga.

 Laminaria
saccharine,
Ascophyllum
sp.,
Sargassum
sp. and Fucus
sp., are
equally liked
by the cattles.

Algae in Pisciculture
 Algae, both floating and attached forms, marine as well as
fresh water, provide the primary food for fish and other
aquatic animals.
 In many countries pond culture for fishes has been taken up
and they are fed with various forms of algae.
 Species of the green algae, the diatoms and some blue-greens
are most widely eaten up by the fishes.
 It is now known that several vitamins found in fish can
ultimately be traced to the phytoplankton’s on which they
feed. So, directly or indirectly, the algae form the source of
food for fishes.
 At the same time, these algae keep the water habitable for
fishes by absorbing the carbon dioxide and enriching water
with oxygen by the photosynthetic activity.

Algae as Fertilizer
 Large brown and red algae are used as organic fertilizers, especially in the
coastal areas.
 A concentrated extract of seaweed is also sold as a liquid fertilizer.
 However, the greatest utility of the algae, as a friend to the farmers, are
members of the class Cyanophyceae for their capacity to fix
atmospheric nitrogen and thus enriching the soil.
 In the paddy fields they have been seen to produce an effect almost similar
to that of manuring with 30 kg. of ammonium sulphate per acre.
 Aulosira fertilissima, the common blue-green algae of the Indian rice fields
used to fix nitrogen and icrease the total organic matter content of the soil.
 In India, the nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae play an important role in
maintaining the fertility of the rice fields.

Reclamation of alkaline ‘usar’ land
 In India, vast tracts of land cannot be cultivated for crops because of high
alkalinity of the soil, commonly known as ‘usar’ soil.
 The ‘usar’ lands would be cultivable, if their pH could be lowered, and
organic contents and the water holding capacity of the soil increased.
Exactly all these functions are carried out by the blue-green algae.
 During the rainy season the blue-green algae, notably species of Nostoc,
Scytonema, Anabaena and Aulosira, grow in plenty.
 According to R. N. Singh (1950), these algae can be of use in the
reclamation of the ‘usar’ lands.
 The process involves a series of successive growth of the algal crop in a
water-logged condition. (After a year of such reclamation, the pH fell from
9.5 to 7.6, organic contents increased from 36.5% to 59.7%, nitrogen
contents from 30% to 38.4%; exchangeable calcium from 20% to 33% and
water holding capacity of the soil is also increased by 40%.
 In such a ‘reclaimed’ land, the transplanted paddy crop grew with a
yield of 715-907 kg/acre. This method of reclamation is now being
practiced widely.

Binding of soil particles
 Algae act as an important binding agent on the
surface of the soil.
 Disturbed or burnt soils are soon covered with a
growth of green and blue-green algae thus reducing
the danger of erosion.

Algae used in space research
 Chlorella is being used in space research.
 Chlorella has been found very suitable for keeping
the air in space vehicles pure on long interplanetary
flights.
 Aalga restores oxygen into the space vehicle by its
photosynthesis.

Commercial products
 Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae, are highly
valuable for certain commercial products

Agar-Agar (Agar)
 Agar-agar is obtained from various members
of red algae for e.g., Gelidium, Gracilaria and
species of Chondrus, Gigartina etc.
 It is a non-nitrogenous extract obtained
almost in a pure mucilaginous form. The chief
constituent of agar is a carbohydrate galactan.
 The purified agar is sold in the form of flakes,
or granules which are brittle when dry but
become tough and resistant when moist.
 The important use of agar is in microbiology
and tissue culture (in the preparation of as
culture media gelling agent for growing algae,
fungi and bacteria in the laboratories).
 Other uses are in the cosmetics, paper and silk
industries, in dentistry for making
impressions and in the preparations of ice-
cream, jellies, sweets and baking.

Carrageenin
 This is a metabolic product similar
to agar, obtained from Chondrus
crispus, Gigartina stellata and
Iridaea laminaroides.
 The mucilage has several
important industrial applications,
e.g., in textile industry, in paper
making, in the manufacture of
straw and felt hats as a stiffening
agent; as an ingredient in
cosmetics, shoe-polishes, hand
lotions, tooth paste etc., as an
emulsifying and suspending agent,
in the baking, dairy industries and
in clarifying liquors.

Algin and Alginates
 Algin is a calcium magnesium salt of alginic acid present in
the intercellular substance of the Phaeophyceae. Because of its
special colloidal properties alginic acid and its derivatives find
considerable use in industry.
 Its salts are used in the manufacture of variety of goods
ranging from ice-cream, salad, cream, custard and jams to
cosmetics, films, fabrics, ceramics, textiles, polishes and
paints.
 They are also used as a suspending agent in compounding
drugs, lotions and emulsions; in the rubber industry in latex
production; as an insulating material and as dental
impression powder.
 Species of Laminaria, Fucus, Ascophyllum, Macrocystis,
Nereocystis, Ecklonia, and Sargassum are the chief sources of
commercial algin.

Diatomite
 Fossil forms of diatoms in some regions are found in large
deposits which are called ‘Diatomaceous earth’. Silica, the
basic constituent of glass and granite rock, is deposited on the
cell walls of the diatoms. Because the silica walls are hard and
chemically inert, the sediments accumulate in marine and
fresh water basins.
 Deposits of fossil marine diatoms over 1,200 feet thick are
known. Once these were used as an absorbent of nitro-
glycerine in the manufacture of dynamite.
 Now-a-days, for its hard and chemically inert nature, it is
mainly used in insulation, as a filtering agent and as an
abrasive, in the industrial filtration processes of sugar
refining, brewing and wine making, in the recovery of
chemicals and for removing waste mycelium in the production
of antibiotics.

Medicinal use
 Alaria was once used for strengthening the stomach and restoring
the appetite after sickness.
 Alginates are used for their haemostatic nature; fucoidin and
sodium lamanarin sulphate are used as ‘blood anticoagulant’.
 Digenia simplex, a Rhodophycean alga, provides an antihelmnitic
drug.
 Agar-agar,for its absorptive and lubricating action, is used
medicinally in the prevention of constipation.
 The antibacterial product chlorellin, obtained from Chlorella acts as
antibiotic. The antibacterial effects are more pronounced against
coliforms and other related intestinal bacteria.
 Extracts of Cladophora, Lyngbya and certain other algae kill strains
of Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium and exhibit antiviral activity.

Sewage Disposal
 Sewage consists of water borne domestic and industrial waste which is rich
in dissolved or suspended organic and inorganic constituents but very poor
in oxygen.
 Species of Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella and Euglena are used
in sewage treatment plants for providing through photosynthesis the
oxygen necessary for rapid decomposition of the sewage by bacteria.
 Bacteria break down the sewage component of complex organic compounds
into such simple inorganic compounds as ammonia, carbon dioxide etc.
and water with the needed amount of oxygen. Oxygen required may be
supplied artificially which is quite expensive or through the agency of the
photosynthetic algae which grow in sewage disposal ponds.
 The most common algal species present in the sewage oxidation ponds are
 Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Euglena, Eudorina and
Pandorina.
 Tests have shown that the algae recovered from sewage ponds can be used
as animal food and in certain regions it may be a valuable source of fodder.

Economic Importance of Bryophytes
 The Bryophytes, also called amphibians of the plant kingdom,
have shown their economic importance since stone Age when
pre-historic man had made uses of feather moss (Neckera
crispa).
 Nowadays, these plants have attracted environmentalists,
botanists, industrialists, horticulturists and pharmacists only
because of their useful characteristics.
 The Bryophytes include liverworts (Hepaticopsida) having
over 300 genera and 6000-10,000 species, hornworts
(Anthocerotopsida) having half a dozen genera and about fifty
species and mosses (Bryopsida) having over 680 genera and
about 15,000 species.

Direct Economic uses of Bryophytes are categorized
into two groups
 (i) The peat is dried, cut into pieces and used as fuel.
 (ii) Peat is mixed in clay soil to keep it porous and mixed in sandy
soil to improve its water holding capacity. It is also used as
substratum for growing seeds.
 (iii) Sphagnum plants have a great absorptive power and
antiseptic properties. Due to this property the dried and sterilized
plants are used as gauze for dressing wounds. It is commonly called
moss cotton.
 (iv) Due to great water holding capacity, the plants are used for
packing nursery plants, bulbs, tubers, cut flowers and perishable
fruits. It is also used as a packing for grafting scions.
 (v) Many chemical products such as alcohol, ammonium sulphate,
peat tar, paraffin, nitrates, brown dye, tanning materials, etc., can
obtained from peat.’
 (vi) After careful drying and cleaning the peat used as mattress filler
and bedding material for domestic animals.

Medicinal uses of Bryophytes
 (i) Marchantia polymorpha, has been
used to cure pulmonary tuberculosis and
afflictions of the liver.
 (ii) The extracts of Marchantia
polymorpha, M. stellata and Polytrichum
commune has anti-tumour properties.
 (iii) The decoction prepared by boiling
dried Sphagnum in water is used in the
treatment of haemorrhage and eye
diseases.
 (iv) Tea prepared from Polytrichum
commune is used to dissolve kidney and
gall bladder stones.
 (v) A distillate of peat tar called Sphagnol
is used in the treatment of skin diseases.

Antibiotic properties
 The antibiotic activities of four species namely
Eonocephalum conium, Dumortiera hirsuta (Candida
albicans), Sphagnum portoricense and S.strictum
(inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus).
 Mosses tested against two bacteria, Gaffkeya tetragena
and staphylococcus aureus.
 Petroleum ether extracts of two species of mosses namely
Barbula and Timella are antibiotically active against 33
bacterial species which include gram negative, gram
positive and acid fast bacteria.

Use as pollution indicators
 Dried mosses have property to absorb metals and
therefore, used to detect the presence of heavy metal
cations in their surroundings.

Bryophytes as a source of food
 Bryophytes are not
directly used as human
food. However, Landley
(1856) made mention of
Sphagnum as a wretched
food in barbarous
countries.
 Read (1946) listed Peat
moss as a famine food in
china.

Use of Bryophytes in experimental Botany
 The liverworts and mosses have played an important
role as research tools in the various fields of Botany
such as genetics, experimental morphology and
physiology.

Uses of Bryophytes as indicator plants
 Some of the Bryophytes grow in specialized areas and
therefore use as indictor plant. Leucobryum
glaucum, Polytrichum and Rhacomitrium indicate
the acidity of soil. Tortell tortusa and Neckera crispa
grow well and soils rich in lime or other bases and
occur as calcicoles.
 Some Bryophytes indicate the presence of specific
elements in the soil eg. Mielichhoferia elongata,
Dryptodon atratus and Merceya lingulata grow well
on soils rich in copper.

Indirect use of Bryophytes
 Soil conservation:

 Formation of soil: The lichens and mosses play a
very important role in the formation of soil over the
bare rocky surfaces.

 Role as rock builders: Certain mosses (Bryum, Hypnum
etc.) growing in association with other acquatic plants ( such
as Chara and other algae) play remarkable role as rock
builders.
 These plants grow in shallow water of lakes, streams and
springs which contain a large amount of Calcium bicarbonate.
The plants brings about decomposition of bicarbonic ions by
abstracting free carbon dioxide. The insoluble calcium
carbonate precipitates.
 The insoluble minerals, on exposure, hardens forming
Calcareous (lime) rock -like deposits around these plants.
 These travertine deposits continue to grow by the aid of
mosses and algae growing in the water extending over areas of
several hundreds square feet.

Economic Importance of Pteridophytes

Pteridophytes Used as Food:
 The young leaf tips of ferns, the circinate ptyxis or
the chroziers are used as vegetable.

The young fronds of
Ampelopteris prolifera
are sold in the market
as ‘dheki shaak’ in
India and Bangladesh.

 The croziers of
Matteuccia struthiopters
as canned or frozen are
served as spring
vegetable in USA and
Canada.

 Leaves of Marsilea,
commonly called
‘shushni’, are used as
vegetable.

 The rhizome of
many ferns such
as Pteris, rich in
starch, is used as
food. The corm
(modified stem)
of Isoetes is used
as food by pigs,
ducks and other
animals.

Pteridophytes Used as Fodder:
 Dry fronds of many
ferns form the
livestock for catties.
 The quadrifid
lamina of Marsilea
resembles a clover
(Trifolium) has been
used as fodder for
animals as a
substitute for clover.

 The spores of Lycopodium have
been widely used in pharmacy
as protective dusting powder
for tender skin and also as
water-repellants.
 The foliages of Lycopodium are
used as tincture, powder,
ointment and cream as a
stomachic and diuretic.
 The foliage decoction is used in
homeopathy to treat diarrhoea,
bladder irritability, eczema,
rheumatism, constipation and
inflammation of liver.

 Equisetum is rich in
silicic acid and silicates.
Potassium, aluminium
and manganese, along
with fifteen types of
flavonoid compounds,
have been reported from
Equisetum.
 The flavonoids and
saponins are assumed to
cause the diuretic effect.
 The silicon is believed to
exert connective tissue-
strengthening and anti-
arthritic action.

 Several ferns have been used as
herbal medicine.
 An oil (5% Filmaron and 5-8%
Filicic acid) extracted from the
rhizome of Aspidium is used as
a vermifuge, especially against
tapeworm.
 The decoction of Asplenium is
used for cough and a good hair
wash.
 The expectorant of Polypodium
is used as a mild laxative, while
the tonic is used for dyspepsia,
loss of appetite and hepatic
problem.

 The root decoction of
Osmunda regalis is used for
treatment of jaundice.
 The ointment made from its
root is used for application to
wound.
 The extraction of Osmanda
vulgaris, commonly known
as ‘Green oil charity’, is used
as remedy for wounds.
 The chemically active
principal ‘Marsiline’ isolated
from Marsilea is found to be
very effective against
sedative and anti-convulsant
principal.

 The rhizome and frond
bases of Dryopteris have
been used to determine
the origin and pathways
of dispersed pathogenic
insects like corn ear-
worm.
 The preparation of
Ophioglossum vulgatum
as ‘Green oil charity’ is
also used as remedy for
wounds.

Pteridophytes Used as Horticultural
Plants
 Many species of
pteridophytes are
cultivated for their
aesthetic value.
Many variants and
cultivars of Psilotum
have been brought
in cultivation in
nurseries and
greenhouses in the
nick-name of ‘whisk
fern’.

 Some epiphytic
species of
Lycopodium (e.g., L.
phlegmaria, L.
lucidulum) are
aesthetically more
valued and can be
grown on hanging
baskets.

 Several species of
Selaginella are used as a
ground cover in an
undisturbed area because
of their decent foliage and
colour. Salaginella
willdenovii, S. uncinata,
etc., are grown in gardens
for their decent blue
colour. S. lepidophylla, S.
bryopteris, etc., are sold
as dried under the name
‘resurrection plants’ which
rejuvenate on contact with
water.

 Several ferns such as
Angiopteris, Asplenium,
Marattia, Microsorium,
Nephrolepis, etc., have
aesthetic values for their
beautiful habit, graceful
shape of the leaves, and
beautiful soral
arrangement. Thus, these
characteristics make them
horticulturally important
plants.

Pteridophytes Used as Biofertiliser:
 Azolla is a free-floating water fern which can multiply very quickly through
vegetative propagation. There are hundreds of moss-like leaves harbouring live
colonies of dinitrogen fixer Cyanobacterium - Anabaena azollae. The relationship
between the alga and Azolla is symbiotic where the alga provides nitrogen to the
plant. Thus, Azolla in full bloom in the waterlogged rice fields may serve as a green
manure. Rice farmers of our country are using Azolla as biofertiliser for the better
production of their crops.

Pteridophytes Used as Indicator Plants
 Equisetum accumulates
minerals, especially gold, in
their stem.
 The rate of accumulation
even reaches up to 4.5 ounce
per ton.
 Equisetum may be referred
to as gold indicator plants
which help in searching a
region for gold ore deposits.
 Similarly, Asplenium
adulterinum is an indicator
of nickel and Actinopteris
australis is a cobalt
indicator plant. Thus, these
plants are found to be
valuable in prospecting for
new ore deposits.

Economic Importance of
Gymnosperms
 Ornamental value:
 A number of
gymnosperms are
grown as ornamental
plants, e.g., Cycas,
Araucaria, Thuja etc.

Food Value
 ‘Sago’ starch obtained from pith and cortex of stem
of C. revolute, C. rumphi etc.
 ‘Seed starch’ obtained from seeds of Cycas rumphii,
Dioon edule etc.
 It is prepared into flour and cooked before eating.
 Seeds of Pinus gerardiana (chilgoza) are edible.
 ‘Kaffir bread’ prepared from the stem pith of
Encephalartos.
 Young leaves of Cycas cooked as vegetables.

Medicinal value
 Ephedrine (alkaloid)
extracted from Ephedra
used in treating asthma,
cough, cold, bronchitis etc.
 Tincture of Ephedra is a
cardiac stimulant.
 The juice extracted from
young leaves of Cycas
revoluta is used for curing
blood vomiting and
flatulence.

Industrial Use
 Gum-Cycas gum used as adhesive, antidote for snake bites and
using malignant ulcers.
 Tannins – Tannins extracted from bark of Araucaria, Pinus,
Sequoia etc. used in leather industry.
 Canada balsam – It is turpentine obtained from Abies balsamea
and used as a mounting medium in biological preparations.
 Amber (fossil resin) – obtained from Pinus succinifera. Wood of
Pinus is used for doors, poles, beams, railway wagon flooring etc.
 Plywood prepared from Podocarpus.
 Papers like newsprints, writing and printing papers are being
prepared from the wood pulp of Pinus, Picea,Abeis, Gnetum etc.
 The leaves of cycads are used for preparing baskets, mats, hats,
 brooms etc.
 The fibres obtained from the leaves of Cycas and Macrozamia are
used for stuffing pillows and making mattresses.

Source of oils
 Oils extracted from seeds of C. revoluta,
Macrozamia reidlei, Pinus cembra and
Cephalotaxus drupacea are used as edible oils.
 Red cedar wood oil extracted from the heart wood of
Juniperus virginiana is used for cleaning
microscopic preparations and for oil immersion
lenses.
 Oils obtained from Cedrus deodara, Ciyptomeria
japonica and Cupressus sermperivirens are used in
preparations of perfumes.

Economic Botany 1.pptx

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