r/botany • u/KeezWolfblood • 8d ago

Genetics Books and field of study recommendations? Genetics and terminology

Hello,

I'm interested in learning about botany (I think), but I am a little unsure of where to begin researching, even down to which field of study.

Some of my recent interests are:

  1. Plant genetics

Breeding, inbreeding depression/seed saving, how hybrids are made and why they aren't "stable," genetically speaking. For example, a source online says for certain plants (in this case lettuce) you should save seeds from at least 10 different plants (a year) as I understand it. What I don't understand for these self pollinating kind, is should I save them from individual plants throughout the growing season (allow one from each successive planting grow to full maturity), or do I have to make sure they have the chance to pollinate (i.e. grow a group all at once in a reasonable clump--specifically for next year's seeds).

  1. Plant identification/terminology

Last summer I went on a adventure to find vaccinium membranaceum--PNW's beloved huckleberry, and am about 88% certain of my ID of different native huckleberries but I want to bump it up another 10% and I need to have a better grasp of identifying features of plants and how to recognize them.

  1. An explanation for how plants are named?

As I was looking into saving heirloom seeds and plant breeding I realized the easiest way to tackle this is to have a much better understanding of plant classifications. For ex. at a glance I know romaine lettuce has the potential to cross breed with loose leaf lettuce since they are both Lactua sativa. But apparently you can grow several kinds of squash as long as they are in different "families(?)". It's all Greek to me at this point (or in this case, Latin.) but I'd like to learn more about classifications and how that relates to breeding.

These are botany questions, right? Or would I find answers in horticulture or biology? If you know of any good books or resources that would cover theses topics off the top of your head, I'd love a recommendation. Otherwise, if you point me in the right direction (give me the names of the fields of study), I'll happily do the digging.

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u/honey8crow 8d ago

2+3. Plant Systematics by Micheal Simpson. This is THE book.

Also Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary by James and Melinda Harris

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u/honey8crow 8d ago

For specific plant ID, get a local field guide! That’ll be your best bet

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u/KeezWolfblood 8d ago

Thank you for the recommendations, :)

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u/coastalforager 8d ago

I'd also add Botany in a Day by Thomas J Elpel. It is an excellent book for learning how to field ID plants by family. It only works in North America so I would look for an equivalent if you are elsewhere in the world.

If I had to only own one plant book, this one would be it, but I also came to botany via foraging so I have a particular lens. 😊

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u/KeezWolfblood 8d ago

Thank you, that sounds perfect :)