Lesson Structure:  Plant Taxonomy

There are 10 lessons:

1. Introduction to Taxonomy

• Introduction to Plant Taxonomy
• Scientific Vs. Vernacular Names
• Linnaeus
• Binomials
• Uniformity
• Protein Analysis
• Ranks and Language
• Ranks of Classification – KPCOFGS
• Plant Phyla
• Plant Families
• Genus and Species
• Latin Names
• Gardener’s Ranks
• Hybrids
• Subspecies
• Varieties
• Cultivars
• International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
• The Basic Ideas
• Principle of Priority
• Legitimate Naming
• Recent Changes to the Code
• International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants
• Taxonomic Name Resolution Service
• International Plant Names Index
• Trademarks & Patents
• Plant Breeders Rights
• The Rise of Molecular Data
• The Impact of Molecular Data

2. Describing Plant Parts

• Habit
• Stems
  
• Hairs
• Leaves
• Compound and Simple Leaves
• Leaf Shapes
• Leaf Margins
• Leaf Structure
• Leaf Arrangements
• Leaf Venation
• Leaf Modifications
• Roots
• Root Modifications
• Terminology
• Flowers
• The Inflorescene
• Fruits
• Dry Fruits
• Fleshy Fruits
• Compound Fruits
• A Key to the Main Types of Fruits
• Terminology

3. Recording & Analysing Plant Descriptions

• Herbaria – Collecting and Preserving a Plant
• Fresh Material
• Arranging Plants for Pressing
• Pressing Difficult Specimens
• The Drying Process
• Herbarium Specimens
• Photographs
• The Problem of Colour
• The Law Relating to Plant Collecting
• Describing a Plant on Paper
• The Equipment You Need
• Botanical illustration
• Floral Diagrams
• Floral Diagram Technique
• Floral Formulae
• DNA Barcoding
• Process of Using DNA Barcoding for Plant Identification
• Applications of DNA Barcoding
• CHEMICAL ANALYSIS (Chemotaxonomy)

4. Taxonomic Techniques

• The advantages of using keys and their limitations
• Using a key
• The rules when making a key
• Lamiaceae (Simplified Key)
• Rules When Writing Couplets
• Best Practice Points
• Making a key
• Why botanical families are so useful when identifying plants

5. Primitive Plants

• The Bryophytes
• Mosses
• Liverworts
• Hornworts
• VASCULAR PLANTS or tracheophytes
• Vascular Tissue and Why it is Important in Evolution of Life on Earth
• A glossary to help you
• The Lycopodiopsida (or Lycophytes)
• Clubmosses – Plants in the family Lycopodiaceae
• Quillworts – Plants in the Family Isoetaceae
• Spike Mosses or Lesser Clubmosses – Plants in the Family Selaginellaceae
• the euphyllophytes – the seed plants, horsetails, and ferns
• The Seed Plants
• Horsetails
• The Ferns

6. Seed Plants

• The gymnosperms
• The cycads – 1 order, 3 families, 10 genera, 285 species
• Ginkgo – 1 order, 1 families, 1 genus, 1 species
• The Gnetidae – 3 orders, 3 families, 3 genera, 71 species
• Welwitschiaceae – 1 Genus, 1 Species
• Gnetaceae – 1 Genus, 30 Species
• The conifers – 3 orders, 6 families, 69 genera, 591 species
• The Conifers’ Life History
• The Cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetidae — How they Differ from the Conifers
• The Six Families of Conifers
• The Angiosperms
• Flowers and Why they are Important in Evolution of Life on Earth
  The Flowering Plant’s Life History
• The Diversity of Angiosperms

7. Phylogeny of Land Plants

• Introduction
• Darwin’s Tree of Life Metaphor – The Hidden Bond of Descent
• Why Use DNA Sequences for Classification?
• The Principle of Monophyly
• The Phylogeny of Land Plants
• The major changes in flowering plant taxonomy
• The End of the Monocot-Dicot Split
• Finally, Some Resolution Within the Monocots
• Some Surprises
• Name Changes Resulting from the Increase in Evidence
• When Applying the Principle of Monophyly Results in Name Changes
• What we can learn from phylogenies

8. Monocotyledons

• Summary of Important Families
• The Monocots — SIGNIFICANT FAMILIES
• Arecaceae
• Aizoaceae (syn. Ficoidaceae)
• Dioscoraceae
• Liliaceae
• Orchidaceae
• Iridaceae
• Amaryllidaceae
• Asparagaceae
• Arecaceae
• Pontederiaceae
• Musaceae
• Bromeliaceae
• Poaceae
• Cyperaceae
• Juncaceae

9. Dicotyledons (Part I)
IMPORTANT DICOT FAMILIES

• Key to Selected Angiosperm Families
• Lower-growing Soft-wooded Plants
• Apiaceae
• Asteraceae
• Brasicaceae
• Cactaceae
• Crassulaceae
• Euphorbiaceae
• Gesneriaceae
• Lamiaceae
• Ranunculaceae
• Solanaceae

10. Dicotyledons (Part 2)

• Fabaceae – Papilionoideae, Mimosoideae, Caesalpinoideae
• Fagaceae
• Ericaceae
• Magnoliaceae
• Malvaceae
• Myrtaceae
• Ongaraceae
• Rosaceae
• Proteaceae
• Rutaceae
• Rubiaceae

Please note:   Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the academy, marked by your tutor and returned with relevant suggestions, and comments, and extra reading if required.

• Explain how plants are classified, including both benefits of and contradictions within the scientific system as followed by horticulturists and botanical scientists across different parts of the world
• Examine and describe parts of a plant, both sexual and asexual, at various stages of the plant’s life cycle.
• Process descriptive information about a plant using taxonomic techniques that involve processing that data to create a better understanding and/or record of that information.
• Explain a variety of tools used in taxonomic work.
• Explain the taxonomy of land plants that do not produce seeds.
• Explain taxonomy of a range of significant, seed producing plants, including gymnosperms.
• Explain the relationship between different types of plants (i.e. phylogeny), and how molecular information impacts on this in taxonomic considerations.
• Differentiate between at least 10 different families of monocotyledon plants, through inspection and identification of a range of commonly shared characteristics within that family.
• Differentiate between at least 10 different families of dicotyledon plants that predominantly contain lower growing soft wooded plants or herbs; through inspection and identification of a range of commonly shared characteristics within that family.
• Differentiate between at least 10 different families of dicotyledon plants that predominantly contain woody trees and shrubs; through inspection and identification of a range of commonly shared characteristics within that family.

Understanding The Correct Order When Describing A Plant To Another Gardener

When a botanist describes a new species, or when a gardener is accurately describing a plant to another gardener, there is a strict order in which he or she describes the components of the plant. You start with those that are present for the longest time and finish with the most transient. The order is as follows:

• Habit – e.g. woody or herbaceous; tree, shrub, or climber
• Stems – e.g. round or square or ridged; hairy or hairless
• Leaves – e.g. evergreen or deciduous, alternate or opposite, simple or compound
• Flowers – e.g. in an inflorescence or solitary, type of inflorescence, number of sepals, colour of sepals, and so on!
• Fruits – e.g. dry or fleshy
• Seeds – e.g. smooth or rough, colour

Roots are rarely described and are rarely used in identification, but they can be useful. For example, the plants in the Berberis family (Berberidaceae) often have roots with a yellow inside.

HABIT
Plants are generally either woody or non-woody (which is also known as herbaceous). If a plant is woody it may be a tree, a shrub, or a climber. The difference between a tree and shrub is not always obvious. Likewise, some plants that are predominantly herbaceous can become woody at their base. Woody and herbaceous plants have a range of habits from upright to spreading to prostrate.

Another major dichotomy is whether the plant flowers just once or many times in its life. If it flowers many times this is normally every year, and these are called perennial plants. Plants that flower once range from thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) which completes its entire life history from seed to seed in just 8 weeks, to the century plant (Agave ferox) which can take 100 years to reach flowering size when grown in glasshouses in England. It produces a huge inflorescence, masses of seeds, and then dies. Plants which flower for many years range from small alpine bulbs to vast tropical trees and these are called monocarpic.

STEMS
The main stem and its branches are the framework that supports the leaves, flowers and fruits. The leaves and green stems manufacture food via the process known as photosynthesis. This food, in the form of sugars, is transported to the flowers, fruits, and roots. The vascular system within the stem consists of canals, or vessels, which transfer nutrients and water upwards and downwards throughout the plant.

A stem’s growing tip, known as the apical bud, is involved in the following processes:

• Stem elongation
• Organising the arrangement of leaves on the stem
• Laying the foundations for the potential development of branches
• Initiation of flowering

An apical bud includes the following:

• Apical meristem
• Leaf primordia (cellular outgrowths on the sides of the apical meristem that will develop into leaves)
• Axillary bud primordia (bulges at the base of each leaf primordium that will develop into axillary buds, which may in turn develop into branches which may eventually be flowering shoots)

The developing stem divides into short sections, called nodes, separated by a leaf or leaves. Leaf and axillary bud primordia develop here. The stem sections between adjacent nodes are called internodes. As the stem grows, the internodes elongate and space the leaves and their associated axillary buds further apart.

To further avoid the crowding of leaves, leaf primordia are positioned in different directions from previously produced ones. There may be one or more leaves at each node. The basic leaf arrangements are alternate (in a spiral), opposite and whorled (in a ring).

The general morphology of stems can vary. They come in a variety of textures from smooth to spongy. They range in colour from white to black. They range in shape from round to triangular. They can also bear a variety of appendages ranging from soft hairs to murderous thorns.

Stems may be modified for a variety of reasons. Some modifications are:

• Tendrils – instead of a leafy shoot, the stem growing from an axillary bud is modified into a twisting climbing tendril e.g. Cissus.
• Thorns – thorns appear along the stem e.g. Bougainvillea.
• Prickles – a prickle is a sharp appendage of the epidermis of the stem i.e. it is a trichome. It is not morphologically a stem or leaf e.g. Rosa spp.
• Stolons – also called runners, stolons are above-ground modifications e.g. strawberry (Fragaria vesca).
• Rhizomes – these are usually horizontal below-ground modifications e.g. Canna spp. but can be above-ground in some irises.
• Tubers – these are large fleshy storage organs including underground stems e.g. potato, and thickened roots e.g. dahlias.
• Corms – these are a thickened stem base which functions as a food storage organ to provide sustenance until the next season e.g. gladioli.
• Cladodes and phylloclades – a cladode is a branch of a single internode which is flattened to simulate a leaf. A phylloclade is an entire shoot similarly flattened. These are often recognised when a flower or fruit appears to be growing from the centre of a leaf which is impossible e.g. Ruscus spp. and Semele androgyne.

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General

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