Tag: introduction to plant kingdom

• Both John Ray and Linnaeus proposed Morphospecies concept.
  
• Morphological Species Concept characterizes a species by body shape and other structural features and is applied to asexual and sexual organisms. It differs from the modern concept of species where a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring are said to belonging to same species. 
  
• Darwin proposed the theory of biological evolution.

Taxonomy is defined as the description, identification, nomenclature, and classification of organisms. Carolus Linnaeus is known as the father of taxonomy.

Artificial systems of classification were based upon morphological characters {such as habit, habitat, colour, number and shape of leaves, etc.) for grouping of organisms. They were mainly based on vegetative characters or on the androecium structure. These systems separated the closely related species since they were based only on a few characteristics.

Species Plantarum, (1753), two-volume work by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, in which he established a precise and workable two-word, or binomial, system for naming plants. This system forms the basis of modern plant taxonomy. In this master work Linnaeus described 6,000 species of plants and assigned each plant a genus name and a species name, the genus representing a group of plants, the species designating specific individuals within a given genus. Species Plantarum was the first work that consistently applied a referable system of nomenclature; it was a vast improvement over the cumbersome polynomial descriptions generally used before its publication. The first edition of Species Plantarum (with the 1754 edition of an earlier work, Genera Plantarum) has been internationally accepted as the starting point in the nomenclature of flowering plants and ferns.

Taxonomic keys are specific to each taxonomic category. A separate key is required for each rank (e.g., family, genus, species) because the diagnostic characters vary significantly between levels.

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic is a species of plant belonging to family Liliaceae. Garlic is native to Central Asia or Northeast Iran. It is a bulbous plant which grows in wild areas. It is used both as a food flavouring and as traditional medicine. It is widely used around the world for its pungent flavour as a seasoning or condiment. So, the correct answer is 'Allium sativum'.

Crotolaria juncea, commonly known as sunn hemp, Indian hemp is a tropical Asian plant belonging to legume family Fabaceae.. It is generally considered to as originated in Indian. It is now widely grown throughout the tropics and subtropics as a source of green manure, fodder and lignified fibre. It is also used as biofuel. It is an annual plant and it is an important summer cover crop in the United States. Hence, the scientific name of Sunn hemp is Crotalaria juncea. So, the correct answer is 'Crotalaria juncea'.

The uninominal system is the system for naming entities in which the name for each entity consists of only one word. It differs from the binomial system employed at species level where each individual organism has a name with two components i.e. species and genus.

Saccharum officinarum, commonly known as sugarcane is a large, strong, growing species of grass belonging to family Poaceae. It was originated in New Guinea and it is a perennial plant. It is cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries worldwide for the production of sugars and other products. It is used for the production of sugar, ethanol. the byproducts are used for feeding livestock. So, the correct answer is 'Saccharum officinarum'.