Human flora

[Benjamin Barrett]

Definition 3a of "flora" in the OED says: "The plants or plant life of any particular type of environment."

There are four citations that relate to human/animal flora (the first one possibly not so):

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1908    Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 5 285   The gas ratio is not an especially important characteristic in mixed fecal flora.
1908    Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 5 296   The influence of these organisms upon the intestinal flora of mice.
1939    A. Huxley After Many a Summer i. v. 65   He began to talk‥about fatty alcohols and the intestinal flora of carp.
1971    Nature 8 Jan. 120/1   The resident flora of the external auditory canal.
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The problem is that these flora are not plants or plant life (or at least mostly not so). The Wikipedia entry on gut flora (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_flora) says:

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Bacteria make up most of the flora in the colon and up to 60% of the dry mass of feces. Somewhere between 300 and 1000 different species live in the gut, with most estimates at about 500. However, it is probable that 99% of the bacteria come from about 30 or 40 species. Fungi and protozoa also make up a part of the gut flora, but little is known about their activities.
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Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

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