Plant Taxonomy 101: Definition, Terms, Plant Classification
By understanding the plant taxonomy, we can make the right decisions about propagating, controlling, or managing landscape plants.
Table of contents
Let's begin with these two questions: What is plant taxonomy? How are plants classified?
There are currently 380.000 or more known species of plants on the planet. This enormous diversity of plants encourages the study of plants, known as plant taxonomy, to simplify plant objects by classifying and naming each plant.
Plant taxonomy, one of the main branches of taxonomy, is a field of science that describes, identifies, classifies, and names plants based on their similarities and differences. Taxonomy classifies plants and other organisms into different taxonomic levels. The different taxonomic categories are as follows:
Kingdom => Phylum => Class => Order => Family => Genus => Species
Kingdom
A kingdom can be used to describe a territory ruled by a monarch. In taxonomic terms, Kingdom is the second-largest group below the domain. Examples of kingdoms include Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, and Protista.
Phylum
Phylum, or called division, is a taxonomy level under kingdom. There are 12+ divisions in the Kingdom Plantae. Let's take a closer at these divisions.
- Bryophyta (Mosses and Liverworts)
- Chlorophyta (Freshwater and Marine Algae)
- Polypodiophyta (Ferns and Horsetails)
- Pinophyta (Conifers)
- Ginkgophyta (Ginkgos)
- Cycadophyta (Cycads)
- Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
- Marchantiophyta (liverworts)
- Anthocerotophyta (hornworts)
Class
The next level of taxonomic classification is class. It ranks below the phylum and above the order. The names of plants have different suffixes, which categorize plants based on their class. For example, flowering plants are placed into Monocotyledons (monocots) and Dicotyledons (dicots).
Order
In taxonomic hierarchy, the order ranks below class and above family. Most plant order names end in -ales. For example, The dicotyledoneae class is divided into several orders, such as solanales, rosales, asterales, and malvales.
Family
The plant family is below the order, which means that members of the order will be categorized into several families. The -aceae ending is usually used in the family name, as follows:
- Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
- Araceae (Flowering plant family )
- Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Genus
Each member of the plant family will be classified again in the genus. The genus name is the first part of the binomial scientific name of a plant. The first letter of the genus name always appears in capital letters, and the word is italicized or underlined. Examples of genera from the Araceae family are Anthurium, Monstera, and Philodendron.
Species
The species is the most fundamental unit in taxonomy. It describes a plant's characteristics or the location where it was found. In scientific names, plant species are named after the genus in italics and lowercase letters. Examples include Fraxinus americana and Rosa multiflora.
Frequently Asked Questions
But before you decide to bring one of these tropical beauties into your home,
What are the 8 plant taxonomy classifications?
What are the 5 types of Plantae?
Why is plant taxonomy important for classification?
Conclusion
Plant taxonomy is an important field of science because all branches of biology require the development and improvement of classification systems. In addition, plant taxonomy provides all information from identity and classification to help us categorize organisms.
