• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.195-209
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• 2008

Some Korean terminologies on reproductive structures of seed plants in plant morphology, written incorrectly in many books, were analysed to propose accurately expressed terminologies. 31 books in areas such as general biology, plant biology, plant morphology, and biological dictionaries and glossaries were selected to analyse the accuracy of the terminologies for reproductive structures in gymnosperms, e.g., cone or strobilus, seed (or ovulate) cone and pollen cone, and conifer(s) or coniferous plants, and for flower structures in angiosperms, e.g., corolla, anther, filament, pistillate (or female) flower and staminate (or male) flower, apocarpous, and syncarpous. The definition and etymology of the terminologies were traced in 4 textbooks of plant anatomy and 2 dictionaries of biology and botany written in English. On the basis of the definition, etymology, and principles for terminology formation according to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 704:2000), reasonably expressed Korean terminologies were proposed. All of the 8 terminologies examined in this study were included in the glossary of biological terminologies, published by the Korean Association of Biological Sciences in 2005, and designated as an editorial source for science and biology textbooks for middle and high schools by Ministry of Education in 2007. However, the only 1 of the 8 terminologies described in the glossary were consistent with the proposed expression in the present study. These inconsistencies indicated the need for a reassessment of this glossary of biological terminologies. The newly proposed terminologies would facilitate mutual understanding between teachers and students of plant biology.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.288-297
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to analyse misinformation about gymnosperm taxon used for over 57 years, since 1957 when plant biology as a discipline was established in our country. That is, terminologies and descriptions of the reproductive structure (flower) of angiosperms (flowering seed plants) have been incorrectly applied to the reproductive structures (typically cones and pollen grain) of gymnosperms (non-flowering seed plants) by numerous and various media such as text books, dictionaries, and internet websites for plant biology. Thus, these resources have been misleading teachers, students, and other people interested in plant biology in general and taxonomy in particular by describing gymnosperm reproductive structures as if they are the same as angiosperms. Such a practice has an especially adverse effect on plant biology education at all levels of instruction, with teachers and students confused in their understanding of the concept and definition of a flower. In this paper, these incorrect expressions for the reproductive structures of gymnosperms from the various media are analysed and discussed in terms of cladogram, anatomy of reproductive structures, and historical context of classification systems.