Aug. 10th, 2004

dreamer_easy: (science)
Today's phylum is the MONOBLASTOZOA. Like the Placozoa, I'd never heard of them before. This may be because no-one is sure if they actually exist. If they do they're microscopic beasties with only one layer of cells surrounding the body cavity.

Representing the ANGIOSPERMS we have this perfect paragraph:

The orchid is generally considered a rare plant; but orchids are second only to grasses in the number of their genera. Indeed, there are over 17,000 named species, ranging from such miniature blooms as Spinrathes to the large and showy blooms of the Cattleya. There are actually more orchids than there are trees or shrubs, but as their natural habitat is in secluded and often inaccessible spots, they were difficult to obtain until man learnt to cultivate them.

- You Too Can Grow Orchids by Ralph Handcock and Margaret Smith, 1955

(I just think that's an attractive piece of clear writing.)
dreamer_easy: (Default)
I am thirty-six.
dreamer_easy: (science)
Today's phylum is the RHOMBOZOA. Never heard of them. Parasites. Used to be a class until DNA analysis landed them in their own section of the animal kingdom. Ho hum.

I recently worked out why botanists use the word "divisions" instead of "phyla" for the major plant groupings - a "phylum" is a leaf. Each phylum is a separate "body plan", and a group with common ancestry. You and I are CHORDATES from the phylum CHORDATA. I'm following the list in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia (Second Edition, 2004), which looks as though it's organised by increasing complexity.

Scientific names use Latin and Classical Greek. The Porifera have pores. The Monoblastozoa, with their single layer of cells on the outside, are "one-cell-animals". Chordates have a spinal cord in their backs. Maybe the Rhombozoa are shaped like rhombuses.

It is my ambition to memorise the animal phyla.

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