Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Plant taxonomy AI simulator
(@Plant taxonomy_simulator)
Hub AI
Plant taxonomy AI simulator
(@Plant taxonomy_simulator)
Plant taxonomy
Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy—the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living organisms.
Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two. In practice, "plant systematics" involves relationships between plants and their evolution, especially at the higher levels, whereas "plant taxonomy" deals with the actual handling of plant specimens. The precise relationship between taxonomy and systematics, however, has changed along with the goals and methods employed.
Plant taxonomy is well known for being turbulent, and traditionally not having any close agreement on circumscription and placement of taxa. See the list of systems of plant taxonomy.
Classification systems serve the purpose of grouping organisms by characteristics common to each group. Plants are distinguished from animals by various traits: they have cell walls made of cellulose, polyploidy, and they exhibit sedentary growth. Where animals have to eat organic molecules, plants are able to change energy from light into organic energy by the process of photosynthesis. The basic unit of classification is species, a group able to breed amongst themselves and bearing mutual resemblance, a broader classification is the genus. Several genera make up a family, and several families an order.
The botanical term angiosperm, or flowering plant, comes from the Greek angeíon (ἀγγεῖον; 'bottle, vessel') and spérma (σπέρμα; 'seed'); in 1690, the term Angiospermae was coined by Paul Hermann, albeit in reference to only a small subset of the species that are known as angiosperms, today. Hermann's Angiospermae included only flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, distinguished from his Gymnospermae, which were flowering plants with achenial or schizo-carpic fruits (the whole fruit, or each of its pieces, being here regarded as a seed and naked). The terms Angiospermae and Gymnospermae were used by Carl Linnaeus in the same sense, albeit with restricted application, in the names of the orders of his class Didynamia.
The terms angiosperms and gymnosperm fundamentally changed meaning in 1827, when Robert Brown determined the existence of truly-naked ovules in the Cycadeae and Coniferae. The term gymnosperm was, from then-on, applied to seed plants with naked ovules, and the term angiosperm to seed plants with enclosed ovules. However, for many years after Brown's discovery, the primary division of the seed plants was seen as between monocots and dicots, with gymnosperms as a small subset of the dicots.
In 1851, Hofmeister discovered the changes occurring in the embryo-sac of flowering plants, and determined the correct relationships of these to the Cryptogamia. This fixed the position of Gymnosperms as a class distinct from Dicotyledons, and the term Angiosperm then, gradually, came to be accepted as the suitable designation for the whole of the flowering plants (other than Gymnosperms), including the classes of Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. This is the sense in which the term is used, today.
In most taxonomies, the flowering plants are treated as a coherent group; the most popular descriptive name has been Angiospermae, with Anthophyta (lit. 'flower-plants') a second choice (both unranked). The Wettstein system and Engler system treated them as a subdivision (Angiospermae). The Reveal system also treated them as a subdivision (Magnoliophytina), but later split it to Magnoliopsida, Liliopsida, and Rosopsida. The Takhtajan system and Cronquist system treat them as a division (Magnoliophyta).[citation needed] The Dahlgren system and Thorne system (1992) treat them as a class (Magnoliopsida). The APG system of 1998, and the later 2003 and 2009 revisions, treat the flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as a subclass (Magnoliidae).
Plant taxonomy
Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy—the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living organisms.
Plant taxonomy is closely allied to plant systematics, and there is no sharp boundary between the two. In practice, "plant systematics" involves relationships between plants and their evolution, especially at the higher levels, whereas "plant taxonomy" deals with the actual handling of plant specimens. The precise relationship between taxonomy and systematics, however, has changed along with the goals and methods employed.
Plant taxonomy is well known for being turbulent, and traditionally not having any close agreement on circumscription and placement of taxa. See the list of systems of plant taxonomy.
Classification systems serve the purpose of grouping organisms by characteristics common to each group. Plants are distinguished from animals by various traits: they have cell walls made of cellulose, polyploidy, and they exhibit sedentary growth. Where animals have to eat organic molecules, plants are able to change energy from light into organic energy by the process of photosynthesis. The basic unit of classification is species, a group able to breed amongst themselves and bearing mutual resemblance, a broader classification is the genus. Several genera make up a family, and several families an order.
The botanical term angiosperm, or flowering plant, comes from the Greek angeíon (ἀγγεῖον; 'bottle, vessel') and spérma (σπέρμα; 'seed'); in 1690, the term Angiospermae was coined by Paul Hermann, albeit in reference to only a small subset of the species that are known as angiosperms, today. Hermann's Angiospermae included only flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, distinguished from his Gymnospermae, which were flowering plants with achenial or schizo-carpic fruits (the whole fruit, or each of its pieces, being here regarded as a seed and naked). The terms Angiospermae and Gymnospermae were used by Carl Linnaeus in the same sense, albeit with restricted application, in the names of the orders of his class Didynamia.
The terms angiosperms and gymnosperm fundamentally changed meaning in 1827, when Robert Brown determined the existence of truly-naked ovules in the Cycadeae and Coniferae. The term gymnosperm was, from then-on, applied to seed plants with naked ovules, and the term angiosperm to seed plants with enclosed ovules. However, for many years after Brown's discovery, the primary division of the seed plants was seen as between monocots and dicots, with gymnosperms as a small subset of the dicots.
In 1851, Hofmeister discovered the changes occurring in the embryo-sac of flowering plants, and determined the correct relationships of these to the Cryptogamia. This fixed the position of Gymnosperms as a class distinct from Dicotyledons, and the term Angiosperm then, gradually, came to be accepted as the suitable designation for the whole of the flowering plants (other than Gymnosperms), including the classes of Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. This is the sense in which the term is used, today.
In most taxonomies, the flowering plants are treated as a coherent group; the most popular descriptive name has been Angiospermae, with Anthophyta (lit. 'flower-plants') a second choice (both unranked). The Wettstein system and Engler system treated them as a subdivision (Angiospermae). The Reveal system also treated them as a subdivision (Magnoliophytina), but later split it to Magnoliopsida, Liliopsida, and Rosopsida. The Takhtajan system and Cronquist system treat them as a division (Magnoliophyta).[citation needed] The Dahlgren system and Thorne system (1992) treat them as a class (Magnoliopsida). The APG system of 1998, and the later 2003 and 2009 revisions, treat the flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as a subclass (Magnoliidae).