Botany in a Day Botany in a Day Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification is a book by Thomas J. Elpel published by HOPS Press, LLC. The book emphasizes family characteristics for plant identification. Related plants typically have similar floral features and often similar uses. For example, plants of the mustard family (Brassicaceae) have four petals with six stamens (4 tall, 2 short), and most or all of the 3,200 species are considered edible. The book is used as a text at universities, high schools, and herbal schools across North America. It is also recommended as a resource for the
Plant roots and overpower and kill their host. Many orchids, bromeliads, ferns and mosses often grow as epiphytes. Bromeliad epiphytes accumulate water in leaf axils to form phytotelmata that may contain complex aquatic food webs. Approximately 630 plants are carnivorous, such as the Venus Flytrap ("Dionaea muscipula") and sundew ("Drosera" species). They trap small animals and digest them to obtain mineral nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. The study of plant uses by people is called economic botany or ethnobotany. Human cultivation of plants is part of agriculture, which is the basis of human civilization. Plant agriculture is subdivided into agronomy, horticulture