**Group 1: Plant Taxonomy Basics**
– Classification systems group organisms based on common characteristics.
– Plants are distinct from animals due to cellulose cell walls, polyploidy, and sedentary growth.
– Plants convert light energy into organic energy through photosynthesis.
– Species, capable of breeding among themselves, are the basic unit of classification.
– Genera make up families, and families make up orders.
**Group 2: History of Plant Classification**
– The term ‘angiosperm’ was coined by Paul Hermann in 1690.
– Robert Brown redefined gymnosperms and angiosperms in 1827.
– Hofmeister’s discoveries in 1851 solidified the distinction between gymnosperms and dicotyledons.
– Various classification systems like Wettstein, Engler, and APG have evolved over time.
**Group 3: Taxonomic Goals in Plant Classification**
– Plant taxonomy aims at plant identification, classification, and description.
– Identification connects plants with published names and known properties.
– Classification places known plants into hierarchical groups based on relationships.
– The ICN governs formal botanical nomenclature for plants.
– Plant description involves formally describing newly discovered species.
**Group 4: Traditional Plant Classification**
– Flowering plants traditionally divided into dicots (Magnoliopsida) and monocots (Liliopsida).
– Dicots are paraphyletic, with eudicots and magnoliids being major clades.
– Monocots form a monophyletic group.
– Basal angiosperms, Ceratophyllaceae, and Chloranthaceae form early branching taxa.
– Various systems like Cronquist and APG have reorganized flowering plant classifications.
**Group 5: Evolution of Plant Classification**
– The Cronquist system, proposed in 1968, widely used but not phylogenetically accurate.
– The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) proposed influential reclassifications.
– Updates like APG II, APG III, and APG IV reflect advancements in research.
– Recent studies show dicots as paraphyletic, with eudicots and magnoliids as major clades.
– The majority of dicot species fall into eudicots or magnoliids, with basal angiosperms as early branching taxa.
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 things).
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.