What makes flowers useful for classification

Classification of Plants The scientific classification of modern land plants is under constant revision. Major Division Types of Plants No. They have no stems, so they grow low to the ground. They reproduce with spores. They need a moist habitat. Vascular Plants Clubmosses 1, They have roots and tiny leaves. Ferns 11, They have large leaves in fronds. They have stiff stems, so they are tall growing; some are trees. Ginkgoes 1 Cycads Conifers Gnetae 70 Most are trees with wood trunks.

They have adaptations to dryness such as needle-like leaves. They reproduce with seeds and pollen. They produce seeds in cones. Flowering Plants , They have tremendous diversity in size, shape, and other characteristics. They produce seeds in the ovaries of flowers. Dicots have "net-veined" leaves, which means they have the familiar leaves with center vein plus branching veins running from it.

Monocots have parallel-veined leaves. Subclass Not used with all species. A group of related plant families classified in the order in which they are believed to have developed their differences from a common ancestor.

Order Not used with all species. The classes are further sub-divided into "orders" whose names end in "ales. Family Each order is divided into families. Each member of a plant family shares many botanical features. This is the highest classification group normally referred to.

The names of families end in "aceae. Unsupported Browser. This website will offer limited functionality in this browser. To place an order or shop, please use one of the following browsers: Chrome , Firefox , Safari , and Edge.

Plant Classification and How It Works. Class Class divides plants into the two large groups, Dicots and Monocots. Sub-Family Not used with all species. A sub-division of a family in which plants are grouped according to botanical differences within the same family. Sub-families end in "oideae. Example of Plant Classification.

Pre- and Post-Assessment Have the students make a list of plants then classify them and justify their reasons. Materials Paper and pencils Procedure Give the students 5 to 7 minutes to come up with, and write down, as many plants as possible. Put some examples on the board to get them started. Have the students call out the plants that they came up with, and add these to the examples already on the board.

Ask the students to get into groups of four and give them 7 to 10 minutes to come up with categories no more than that can be used to organize the plants on the board.

This is just a warm-up to get them thinking about ways of categorization. Have the groups of students talk to each other about how they chose to classify the plants.

Discussion Questions What are some ways the groups classified plants? How did they come to those decisions? Is it important to have an organized and predetermined way of classifying plants?

Why or why not? Talk about how scientists generally conduct classification of plants using physical similarities and dissimilarities to distinguish species from one another. Talk about why classification is important. The following are some suggested reasons: It helps us remember different plants i. For example, if all female mammals produce milk for babies, then females in a new mammal species should also have the ability to produce milk.