Classifying Plants:

Uses:

vegetable-are we sure?
fruit
flavor
fiber
starch
oil
ornamental

Form:

herb (not spice, not condiment)	Non-woody
shrub vine tree deciduous evergreen	Woody

Season:

Annual-seed to flower to death in one season (year)
Biennial-seed to maturity in one year, flower to death in second year
Perennial-seed to mature one-several years, flowers many seasons (each year)

Climate:

Tropical
Subtropical
Temperate

Cool Season
Warm Season

Botanical:

Kingdom (Monera, Protista, Animalia, Fungi, Plantae)

Division (Anthophyta = flowering plants)

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Variety

• Universal (remember metric system)
• Dead Language (no changes)
• Unique

The trouble with common names:
100 unrelated "Black-Eyed Susans" world wide.

Brassica oleracea

• capitata = cabbage
• acephala = kale
• gemmifera = Brussels sprouts
• italica = broccoli
• botrytis = cauliflower
• caulorapa = kohlrabi

Botanical varieties not cultivars

Brassica oleracea capitata 'Late Flat Dutch'

Brassica oleracea capitata 'Copenhagen Market'

This page © Ross E. Koning 1994.

The MLA citation style for this page would be:
Koning, Ross E. "Classification of Plants". Plant Physiology Website. 1994. http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/plants_human/classification.html (visit date).

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