Plant taxonomy
Created by Michael Ferguson
10-11-10
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
Usage
• Fruit, vegetable, ornamental
What is the difference between
a fruit and a vegetable?
Common names
Why 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 statue
For 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
Phylum (Division)
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Very broad
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
Family
Genus
species
Botanical variety
Naming authority
Cultivar
Solanales
Solanaceae
Lycopersicon
esculentum
esculentum
L. [ for Linnaeus]
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 rose
and was always a rose;
But the theory now goes
That the apple's a rose,
And the pear is, and so's
The 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