Plant taxonomy

Created by Michael Ferguson10-11-10

Classification Hokey Pokey• Everyone remove your left shoe and put the shoes in a pile in the back

of the room.

• Now take off your right shoe and put the shoes in a pile in front of the SAE wall.

• Classify the shoes: -starting with two main groups (or categories)

-then pick one of the two piles and break it down into categories

-have one person in your group write down what you have categorized and why

• What is classification? • To classify means to group similar things• How do you use classification every day?

• Everyone uses classification all the time, not just biologists.

Plant classification(Taxonomy)

Taxonomy is the classification of living organisms

There are many methods for identifying or grouping plants for communication

How can we group plants?• life cycle• Morphology (how it grows and what it looks like)• Environment• Usage

Life cycle

• Annual– Short-lived plant. The

entire life cycle is completed in one growing season.

• Biennial– Two seasons to complete

life cycle• Perennial

– Live from year to year, either woody or herbaceous.

Morphology or appearance

• Evergreen, deciduous• Woody, herbaceous• Vines, trees, shrubs• Opposite or alternate leaves• Fruit, seed, etc. types

We’ll get to more “mor-phology” in a minute!

Environmental

• Xerophyte, halophyte, hydrophyte• Hardy, tender• Temperate, tropical, subtropical• Warm season, cool season

When do you plant cool season

crops in south Florida?

Usage

• Fruit, vegetable, ornamental

What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

Common namesWhy are common names not very good for classifying plants?

• All of these have “rose” in their common name

Common names are misleading

All of these share the same common name ‘Yellow Bell’-they are very different in the way they grow and how they are used

Why do experienced landscape architects use scientific names instead of common names on landscape plans?

Why should experienced horticulturists know both common names and scientific name of Plants?

AAAHHHH!!!!!

STOP THE MADNESS!

ORDER IN THE COURT!

SEND US A SAVIOR FROM THIS COMMON NAME MADNESS

“My name is Carolus Linnaeus I have cometh from Sweden to save the horticultural world from confusion!”

What do you say? Let’s give him a statueFor his hard work!

“You may ask, besides having a fye wig that the chicks dig, what did I do to earn such recognition? Well let me tell you.”

Linneaus

• a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy.

• Developed the use of Latin to name the Genus and species of plants. Latin is a dead language that does not change.

Hierarchical Classification

• It starts very broad and gets more specific• 7 hierarchies in our system:

• Kingdom Very broad• Phylum (Division)• Class• Order • Family• Genus• Species Very specific

I suggest coming up with a sentence starting with the first letter of these hierarchies

Scientific nomenclature• Kingdom• Animalia• Plantae• Plantae• Phylum (several, those with horticultural interest -)

Pterodophyta – spore bearing plants (ferns)• Spermatophyta – seed bearing plants• Class• Gymnospermae – naked seeds• Angiospermae • Subclass• Monocotyledonae (monocots) - 49,000 types • Dicotyledonae (dicots) - 237,000 types

And this is only half of it . . . .

Scientific names• Order• Family - ‘aceae’ usual ending

– First place you may start in identification

• Genus• Species

– Authority - • Cultivar- cultivated variety• Variety - botanical variety• etc.

Binomial nomenclature

–Genus and species

You can thank Linnaeus for all

this!

Binomial Nomenclature

• Think of the Genus name of a plant as the noun and the species name as an adjective. Ex:

• Common Name: Red Maple• Scientific Name:Acer rubrum

• In Latin Acer means:• rubrum means: red

CULTIVAR = CULTIVATED VARIETY

“Assemblage of cultivated plants which is clearly distinguished by any characters and which, when reproduced (sexually or asexually) retains its distinguishing characters.”

- Liberty Hyde Bailey

*Botanical varieties naturally breed true from seed

*Cultivars are asexually cloned or by controlled sexual crossing of breeding lines

Tomato Lycopersicon esculentum L. Big Boy

Order SolanalesFamily SolanaceaeGenus Lycopersiconspecies esculentumBotanical variety esculentumNaming authority L. [ for Linnaeus]Cultivar Big Boy

Scientific names may tell you something about the plant.

Even more on scientific nomenclature

• Most commonly used system of nomenclature• As you move down though the sections, plants are

more closely related• Based on flower and plant morphology

• How do I write a scientific name:• Genus is capitalized• species is lower-case• Both words are italicized• Cultivars and varieties are in single quotes and not

italicized ex: “New Dawn”

It’s all in the Family

• Being able to identify an unknown plant to its family is a valuable skill

• Look at botanical characteristics and see if it reminds you of another plant

• Look at references under the name of the family to speed up your search

Common Plant Families

• Anacardiaceae • Apocynaceae• Cruciferae• Fagaceae• Gramineae• Labiatae• Leguminosae• Rosaceae

The rose is a roseand was always a rose;But the theory now goesThat the apple's a rose,

And the pear is, and so'sThe plum, I suppose.The dear only knows

What will next prove a rose.You, of course, are a rose,but were always a rose.

- Robert Frost, "The Rose Family”

More Common plant Families

• Asteraceae• Brassicaceae• Poaceae• Clusiaceae• Lamiaceae• Fabaceae• Arecaceae• Apiaceae• Zamiaceae