General Classification
Meaning of Plant Classification:
Plant Classification is the arrangement of plants into groups and categories for a
clear understanding, proper study and effective organization.
According to Radford (1986) “classification is the arrangement of groups of
plants with particular circumscriptions by rank and position based on
artificial criteria, phenetic similarities, or phylogenetic relationships”.
The early civilization of India, Egypt and China had a fair knowledge of plants used
both as food as well as medicinal purposes, and also practiced a sort of plants
taxonomy.
Vrikshayurveda compiled by parasara before the beginning of the christian era is one
of the earliest Indian works, which deals with plants in a scientific manner and
follows a classification largely based on comparative morphology of plants, and it
was considered to be more advanced than the one developed in Europe before 18th
century.
Several families known as ganas are clearly distinguished in Vrikshayurveda, which
are easily recognizable even today. As for example, it mentions the flowers of
Samiganyam as bypogynous with a gameosepalous calyx, five petals of different sizes
and the fruit a legume with the seeds on the side. This evidently indicates to the
family Leguminosae.
A plant classification system has predictive value and provides an index to
information storage and retrieval on that plant. Since systematics today is very much
a reflection of the past, a historical review revealing the historical period and the
technologies available during the historical periods needs to be summarized.
History of plant classification
A. Evolutionary Classifications:
(i) Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
He wrote the book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection” in (1859) influenced by observations during the voyage of the
H.M.S. Beagle to the Galapagos Islands.
Darwin proposed that the earth was much older than 6000 years and that
evolutionary change occurs through gradual, accumulated differences.
Another scientist Alfred R. Wallace, also developed a very similar theory
of evolution which were presented at the meetings of the London
Linnaean Society in 1858, and this concept of evolutionary change was
embraced by most scientists, including Haekel whose Tree of Life (1866)
depicted all taxa (Protists, Plants, and Animals).
(ii) George Bentham (1800-1884) and Sir Joseph D. Hooker (1817-
1911):
Genera Plantarum was published after Darwin’s Origin of Species, but
could not reflect new evolutionary concepts despite the fact that both
Bentham and Hooker were great champions of this theory. They named
200 families and 7,569 genera, with fabulously detailed, often original
descriptions. Many herbaria in the world are still arranged according to
this system. They recognized monocots and dicots and began the latter
with the polypetalous plants.
B. Phylogenetic Classifications:
(i) Asa Gray (1810-1888):
He a professor of botany at U.S. University published his famous work, “A
Manual of Botany of the Northern United States (1848)”. Gray’s Manual
of Botany was published later by M. L. Fernald.
(ii) Adolph Engler (1844-1930) and K. A. E. Prantl (1849-1893):
Engler and Prantl of Berlin came up with first system of classification
which reflected the evolutionary history and their greatest work Die
Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, adopted a system that proceeded from
simple structures to complex.
Unisexual, cone-like flowers (catkins) were considered to be primitive
(alder, birch, etc.). This was the first major phylogenetic classification.
This system is used today in many herbaria and floras and very useful for
modern taxonomists with certain modifications.
(iii) Charles Edwin Bessey (1845-1915):
He was a student of Asa Gray and he developed a set of “dicta” (rules)
stating which characters are primitive and which are advanced in
flowering plants. The Magnolia type flower was considered primitive, not
the unisexual catkin-bearing plants. His published work is “The
Phylogenetic Taxonomy of Flowering Plants”.
(iv) John Hutchinson (1884-1972):
He worked at Kew Gardens and published “The Families of Flowering
Plants” and “Genera of Flowering Plants”. He considered woody and
herbaceous to be of fundamentally different evolutionary trends.
(v) Robert F. Thorne (1920 to present):
He works at Rancho Santa Anna Botanical Garden in Claremont, CA. His
work includes “A Phylogenetic Classification of the Angiosperm”.
(vi) Armen Takhtajan (1910 to present):
His work “Flowering Plants: Origin and Dispersal” was an influential early
work. A revision of this classification appeared in 1997 as “Diversity and
Classification of Flowering Plants”.
(vii) Rolf Dahlgren (1932-1985):
He worked at the University of Copenhagen. His work includes “A Revised
System of plant Classification of the Angiosperms”.
(viii) Arthur Cronquist (1919-1991):
His most famous work includes “An Integrated System of plant
Classification of Flowering Plants” (1981), which has been revised in 1988
and is much adopted today.
Division of Plant Kingdom:
The plant kingdom is divided into different subgroups based on several criteria.
A. Classification based on structural complexity
I. Cryptogams:
Cryptogams never bear flowers and reproduce by some minute bodies called
spores, or by simple fission.
Cryptogams are further divided into three groups
1. Thallophyta:
The plants which have an undifferentiated mass of cells (thallus), having no
stems, roots and leaves. The green thallophytes usually grow in water are
called algae, e.g. pond-scum; and non-green thallophytes are the fungi.
E.g. common moulds growing on rotten organic substances and mushrooms,
belong to this group.
2. Bryophyta:
This group includes plants like mosses with small stems and simple leaves but
no roots. They grow in moist places often forming something like green
velvety carpet. Some bryophytes have thalloid bodies.
(c) Pteridophyta:
The plant body is well differentiated into roots, stems and leaves, and the organs
have well-developed conducting strands. These are the highest cryptogams also
known as vascular cryptogams. E. g Ferns.
II. Spermatophytes or Phanerogams:
These are the higher plants which bear flowers and reproduce by means of seeds.
They are of two types:
a) Gymnosperms (gymnos = naked; sperma = seed). Gymnosperms are the
naked-seeded plants where the seeds remain exposed;
b) Angiosperms (angeion—a case). Angiosperms are closed-seeded ones where
seeds are covered, that is, remain inside the fruits.
Almost all the flowering plants with which we are familiar belong to angiosperm
group. Angiosperms are further divided into dicotyledonous (e.g. Pea, mango,
jack-fruit, etc.) or monocotyledonous (e.g. rice, maize, palms, etc.) , based on
the number of cotyledons present in the embryo.
Interestingly, more than 340,000 plants have been identified, described and named
by the botanists. Approximately 110,000 of them are thallophytes, 20,000
bryophytes, 10, 000 pteridophytes and nearly 200,000 are spermatophytes.
In the plant kingdoms there is
i. A gradual ascent in complexity of structure from the lowest thallophytes to the
highest angiosperms.
ii. Gradual adaptation to terrestrial life from aquatic life.
B. Classification based on mode of nutrition
a) Autophytes: The plants which manufacture complex organic food matters
from the raw materials, water and carbon dioxide gas, in the presence of sunlight
and are self-supporting. E.g. all green plants.
b) Parasites: Plants which do not manufacture food but grow on some other
plants (‘hosts’), and absorb sap from the host by sending out peculiar sucking
roots. Parasites may be total or partial. Cuscuta (stem paracite) and Rafflesia
(which produces largest flowers, a yard in diameter and nearly 25 lbs. in weight
(native of Java and Sumatra), are total parasites (Fig. 1 & 2). Sapria himalayan,
found in Eastern most part of India is just like Rafflesia, but smaller in size.
Similarly, Loranthus or mistletoe on sandal wood trees is known as partial
parasites, because in addition to the sucking roots they also produce thick leaves
for manufacture of food.
Fig: 1. Parasitic plant Cuscuta Fig: 2. Root parasite, Rafflesia
a. Epiphytes: E.g. Orchids grow on the stout branches of trees and produce roots
which freely hang in air. These roots are sometimes green in colour, and owing to
presence of a tissue known as ‘velamen’ can absorb moisture from air.
Fig: 3. Epiphytic Orchid
b. Saprophytes: E.g. Fungi like moulds and mushrooms which grow on dead
rotten organic matters and draw nourishment from them.
c. Symbionts: E. g. Nitrogen fixing bacteria in the roots of leguminous plants like
pea and pulses which form swellings or nodules. These bacteria fix free nitrogen
from the atmosphere and supply the same to the plant, and, in return, they get
other food matters from, the plant forming mutual friendship, symbiosis.
d. Insectivorous: They eat and digest insect for their nitrogen requirement. E. g.
Nepenthes (pitcher plant) has leaf-blade modified into a hollow pitcher with for
catching insect.
Drosera (sundew) has spatula-like leaves bearing glandular tentacles the tips of
which glisten in sunshine like dew- drops which attract insects.
Utricularia (bladderwort) has segmented leaves modified into swollen bladders
for catching insects.
C. Classification based on habitat or conditions where they grow
a) Hydrophytes: grow in water or places with plenty of water. They have delicate
poorly developed roots, segmented or ribbon-like leaves, soft and spongy stems
with abundant air-spaces. E. g. Vallisneria (B. Pata shaola), water hyacinth,
lotus, lily.
b) Mesophytes grow in moderate water supply and stand midway between water
plants and desert plants with structural peculiarities like, possessing broad and
thin leaves with stomata and well-developed roots with root-hairs.
c) Xerophytes are plants of deserts—can survive in very dry situations with ex-
treme heat, dry air, intense light and high wind. They have very strongly formed
root system; stunted aerial portion; rolled, folded or otherwise extremely reduced
leaves with extra coating of wax on epidermis for preventing water loss, and
arrangement for storage of water. E. g. Cacti, Opuntia (B. Fanimansha).
d) Halophytes grow in sea-shore or saline marshes where absorption of water
becomes difficult due to abundance of salt deposited from sea waves. They have
stilt roots for extra support, special aerial roots for absorption of oxygen, cymose
branching and peculiar germination called Vivipary. E. g. mangrove is found in
Sundarbans, Heritiera (B. Sundri), Ceriops (B. Goran).
D. Classification based on nature of stems:
a) Trees: They have strong stems which helps them to stand erect. The stem may
be un-branched (palms), with solid nodes and hollow internodes (bamboos) and
a number of branches forming a spreading crown (banyan, mango).
b) Creepers: Plants with weak stems which either creep on the soil surface, as in
Dub grass (B. Durba) and sweet potato (B. Ranga Aloo); or climb round a
support by twining around it, as in Clitoria (B. Aparajita). Some may have
special sensitive organs called tendrils, as in Passion-flower (B. Jhumka Lata)
and Gourd (B. Kumro).
System of Plant Classification:
1. Artificial Classification:
This is the earliest systems of classification which followed from 300 B.C.
1830 A.D. It was based on one or a few easily observable characters of plants,
such as habit (trees, shrubs, herbs, etc.) or floral characters (particularly
the number of stamens and carpels). This system was based on arbitrary or at
least easily observable characters, often irrespective of their affinity.
E.g. the sexual system of Linnaeus, which uses only one attribute i.e. the
number of stamens for grouping plants into 24 Classes as a result of which,
various unrelated taxa, with similarity in one respect only, have been placed
under the same Class.
2. Natural Classification:
This was based upon overall resemblances, mostly in gross morphology, thus,
utilized as many taxonomic characters as possible, to group taxa.
Charles Darwin’s proposed theory of evolution (1859) postulates that, the
present day plants have descended from those existing in the ancient past,
through a series of modifications in response to changing environmental
conditions, which means that all present day plants are related to each other
in one way or another. Thus, the closely related plants were naturally be in
natural classification system. Thus, larger the number of characters shared by
different taxa, the more closely related they are to each other. This formed the
basis of modern classification.
3. Phylogenetic Classification:
The classification systems proposed after Darwin’s theory are mostly
phylogenetic i.e. they use as many taxonomic characters as possible in
addition to the phylogenetic (evolutionary) interpretations. These are
expressed in the form of phylogenetic trees or shrubs showing presumed
evolution of the groups.
The natural systems are two-dimensional
i. Horizontal classification: based on the data available at any time
ii. Vertical Classification or Evolutionary Classification:
includes a third dimension i.e. past history or ancestral history results
in phylogenetic classification also known as.
Radford (1986) proposed four systems of classifications:
Artificial Classifications — based on the habit and importance to
mankind as taxonomic characters e.g. systems of Theophrastus, Dioscorides,
etc.
Mechanical Classifications — Based on use one or a few selected
taxonomic characters to group taxa e.g. systems of Caesalpino, Bauhin, Ray,
Tounefort and Linnaeus.
Natural Classifications
Phylogenetic Classifications
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