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Introduction To Plant Taxonomy (Identification, Classification and Nomenclature)

The document discusses plant taxonomy, focusing on identification, description, nomenclature, and classification of plant species. It outlines the systematic activities involved in recognizing and categorizing plants, including the use of herbaria, literature, and various classification systems such as artificial, natural, phenetic, phylogenetic, and evolutionary taxonomic classifications. Additionally, it highlights the importance of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the development of a common database for global communication in taxonomy.

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8 views4 pages

Introduction To Plant Taxonomy (Identification, Classification and Nomenclature)

The document discusses plant taxonomy, focusing on identification, description, nomenclature, and classification of plant species. It outlines the systematic activities involved in recognizing and categorizing plants, including the use of herbaria, literature, and various classification systems such as artificial, natural, phenetic, phylogenetic, and evolutionary taxonomic classifications. Additionally, it highlights the importance of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the development of a common database for global communication in taxonomy.

Uploaded by

Unice Joveree Tanael
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to plant Taxonomy (Identification, Classification and Nomenclature)

:Various systematic activities are directed towards the singular goal of constructing an
ideal system of classification that necessitates the procedures of identification,
description, nomenclature and constructing affinities. This enables a better
management of information to be utilized by different workers, investigating different
aspects structure and functioning of different species of plant. The different
components of systematics are as follows:-

Identification :- Identification or determination is recognizing an unknown specimen


with an already known taxon, and assigning a correct rank and position in an extant
classification. In practice, it involves finding a name for an unknown specimen. This may
be achieved by visiting a herbarium and comparing unknown specimen with duly
identified specimens stored in the herbarium. Alternately, the specimen may also be
sent to an expert in the field who can help in the identification.

Identification can also be achieved using various types of literature such as floras,
monograph or manuals and making use of identification keys provided in these sources
of literature.

Description :- The description of a taxon involves listing its features by recording the
appropriate character states. A shortened description consisting of only those
taxonomic characters which help in separating a taxon from other closely related taxa,
forms the diagnosis, and the characters are termed as diagnostic characters. The
diagnostic characters for a taxon determine its circumscription. The description is
recorded in a set pattern. For each character, an appropriate character state is listed.
Flower colour (character) may thus be red, yellow, white, etc. (states). The description is
recorded in semi-technical language using specific terms for each character state to
enable proper documentation of data.
Nomenclature: - Nomenclature deals with the determination of a correct name for a
taxon. Nomenclature of plants is governed by the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature (ICBN) through its rules and recommendation. Updated every six years or
so, the Botanical Code helps in picking up a single correct name out of numerous
scientific names available for a taxon, with a particular circumscription, position and
rank. To avoid inconvenient name changes for certain taxa, a list of conserved names is
provided in the code. Cultivated plants are governed by the International Code of
Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) slightly modified form and largely based on
the Botanical Code.

With the onset of electronic revolution and the need to have a common database for
living organisms for global communication a common uniform code is being attempted.
The Draft BioCode is 1stpublic expression of these objectives. The first draft is prepared
in 1995. After successive reviews the fourth draft, named Draft BioCode (1997)
prepared by the International Committee for Bionomenclature was published by
Greuter et. al. (1998) and is now available on the web. The last decade of the twentieth
century also saw the development of rankles phylocode based on the concept of
phylogenetic systematics. It omits all ranks except species and clades based on the
concept of recognition of monophyletic groups.

Classification: - Classification is an arrangement of organisms into groups on the basis of


similarities. The groups are in turn assembled into more inclusive groups , until all the
organisms have been assembled into a single most inclusive group. The process of
classification includes assigning appropriate position and rank to a new taxon, dividing a
toxon into smaller units, uniting two or more taxa into one, transferring its position
from one group to another and altering its rank. Taxonomic entities are classified in
different fashion:-
• Artificial classification is utilitarian, based on arbitrary, easily observable characters
such as habit, colour, number, form of similar features. The sexual system of
classification of Linnaeus fits in this category.
• Natural classification uses overall similarity in grouping taxa, a concept initiated by
M. Adanson and culminating in the extensively used classification of Bentham and
Hooker. Overall similarity in this system is judged on the basis of features derived
from all the available fields of taxonomic information ( Phenetic relationship).
• Phenetic classification makes the use of overall similarity in terms of a phonetic
relationship based on data from all available sources such as morphology, anatomy,
embryology, phytochemistry, ultrastructure and, in fact, all other fields of study. This
classification is strongly advocated by Sneath and Sokal (1973).
• Phylogenetic classification is based on the evolutionary descent of a group of
organisms, the relationship depicted either through a phylogram, phylogenetic tree
or a cladogram. Classification is constructed with this premise in mind, that all the
descendants of a common ancestor should be placed in the same group (i.e. the
group should be monophyletic). If some descendents have been left out, rendering
the group paraphyletic, these are brought back into the group to make it
monophyletic. Similarly, if the group is polyphyletic with members from more than
one phyletic lines, it is split to create monophyletic taxa. This approach , known as
cladistics, is practiced by cladists.
• Evolutionary taxonomic classification :- It differs from phylogenetic classification in
that the gaps in the variation pattern of phylogenetically adjacent groups are
regarded as more important in recognizing groups. It accepts leaving out certain
descendants of a common ancestor if the gap are not significant, thus failing to
provide a true picture of the genealogical history. The characters considered to be of
significant in evolution are dependent on expertise, authority and intuition of
systematists. Such classification has been advocated by Simpson (1961) Mayr and
Ashlock (1991). The approach, known as eclecticism, is practiced by eclecticists.
Classification not only helps in the placement of an entity in a logically organized
scheme of relationships, it also has a great predictive value. The presence of a valuable
chemical component in one species of a particular genus may prompt its search in other
related species. The more a classification reflects phylogenetic relationships, the more
predictive it is supposed to be.

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