Human flora

[Benjamin Barrett]

Excellent follow-ups.

This is an important point. As I think you are implying, the average reader will not comb the definition of "plant" to look for a meaning including fungi and bacteria. BB

On Dec 21, 2011, at 6:34 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

>>
>
> The problem in the OED flora 3.b. is not so much the restriction to
> "plants or plant life" as the supposed meaning of "plants or plant
> life". It seems clear that, at least for some OED editors, "plant or
> plant life" included things that are not classified as "plant or plant
> life" today (or, in some cases, ever). To get the full perspective, go
> to the definition of plant n.1 2.a.
>
>> 2. a. /gen./ and /Biol./ A living organism other than an animal, able
>> to subsist wholly on inorganic substances, typically fixed to a
>> substrate and moving chiefly by means of growth, and lacking
>> specialized sensory and digestive organs; /spec./ (more fully green
>> plant) such an organism belonging to a group (the kingdom /Plantae/)
>> which comprises multicellular forms having cellulose cell walls and
>> capable of photosynthesis by means of chlorophyll, including trees,
>> shrubs, herbs, grasses, and ferns (the vascular or higher plants), and
>> also mosses and liverworts (the bryophytes). Freq. /spec./: a small
>> (esp. herbaceous) organism of this kind, as distinguished from a tree
>> or shrub; (in informal use) such an organism grown for or known by its
>> foliage or fruit, as distinguished from a Œflower‚.
>> [Bacteria, formerly classified in the kingdom /Plantae/, have now been
>> removed to a separate kingdom, and would generally not be referred to
>> as plants. However, in the broadest (non-technical) sense, the term
>> still may include fungi (and lichens), which are now classified in a
>> separate kingdom, but were formerly regarded as lower (non-vascular)
>> plants, together with algae and bryophytes. The position of algae is
>> also equivocal: many scientific writers exclude them from the kingdom
>> /Plantae/ (placing them in the kingdom /Protista/ or /Protoctista/),
>> but green algae are still sometimes treated as lower plants, and
>> non-technical use of the word Œplant‚ would often include
>> multicellular algae (e.g. seaweeds).]
>
> The explanatory note makes it clear that the old definition is preserved
> as a historical artifact. The trouble is that other articles that use
> this definition need to be rewritten to make sure that this issue is fixed.
>
> On 12/21/2011 7:42 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> 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):
>>
>> -----
>> 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 ... bout fatty alcohols and the intestinal flora of carp.
>> 1971    Nature 8 Jan. 120/1   The resident flora of the external auditory canal.
>> -----
>>
>> 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:
>>
>> -----
>> 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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