Land of Plants in Motion : : Japanese Botany and the World / / Thomas R. H. Havens; ed. by Kieko Matteson, Anand A. Yang.

Land of Plants in Motion is the first in any language to examine two companion stories: (1) the rise of an East Asian floristic zone and how the Japanese islands evolved an astonishing wealth of plant species, and (2) the growth of Japanese botanical sciences.The majority of plant species regarded a...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Contemporary Collection eBook Package
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Place / Publishing House:Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2020]
©2020
Year of Publication:2020
Language:English
Series:Perspectives on the Global Past
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (248 p.) :; 23 b&w illustrations
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Preface --
Introduction --
1. East Asia's Plants in Geological Time --
2. Plants in Early Modern Japan --
3. Seeking Japanese Plants in Europe and North America --
4. Foundations of Plant Biology in Modern Japan --
5. Plant Biology in Japan's Age of Empire --
6. Plant Biologists in an Era of Specialization --
Notes --
Sources Cited --
Index --
About the Author
Summary:Land of Plants in Motion is the first in any language to examine two companion stories: (1) the rise of an East Asian floristic zone and how the Japanese islands evolved an astonishing wealth of plant species, and (2) the growth of Japanese botanical sciences.The majority of plant species regarded as "Japanese" trace their origins to western China and the eastern Himalaya but are so indigenized that they often seem native today. Early modern scientists in Japan drew on knowledge of Chinese herbal medicine but achieved distinctive insights into plant life commensurate with but separate from their European counterparts. Scholars at the University of Tokyo pioneered Japanese plant biology in the late nineteenth century. They incorporated Western botanical methods but sought a degree of difference in taxonomy while also gaining international legitimacy through publications in English. Japan's age of empire (1895-1945) was less about plant exploration and more about plant collection, for both scientific and economic benefits. Displays of species from throughout the empire made Japan's sphere of colonization and conquest visible at home. The infrastructure for research and instruction expanded slowly after World War Two: new laboratories, botanical gardens, scholarly societies, and publications eventually allowed for great diversity of specialized study, especially with the growth of molecular biology in the 1970s and DNA research in the 1980s. Basic research was harmed by cuts in government funding during 2012-2017, but Japanese plant biologists continue to enjoy international esteem in many fields of scholarship.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780824883447
9783110649826
9783110696295
9783110704716
9783110704518
9783110704730
9783110704525
9783110696301
9783110689624
DOI:10.1515/9780824883447?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Thomas R. H. Havens; ed. by Kieko Matteson, Anand A. Yang.