Notes

2.2 Botanical classification and the names of plants
Taxonomy - process of classifying and naming organisms (Greek Taxis=group, Nomia=arranging, managing, classifying)
+importance: stability, uniqueness, internationally understood, confusion over common names, to allow for plant identification and communication.
[A] Describe the binomial system of naming plants, state the meaning of the terms 'genus' and 'species' and state how they are written with reference to THREE plant examples.
[B] Describe the naming of cultivated plants. State the meaning of the term cultivar and state how it is written with reference to three plant examples.

+Classification has been a fundamental necessity of day-to-day life since pre-language times. It allows us to remember and communicate concepts such as safe vs dangerous or aluminium and iron vs plastic.
- To identify: cultivated varieties of plants may vary wildly e.g. purple/green leaves, tolerance for winter temperatures etc.
- To summarise common characteristics: 2 entities in the same taxonomic group share similar characteristics. The defining characters for a group are called diagnostic characteristics, useful for distinguishing groups of plants. Groups that share common characteristics = taxa (singular: taxon)
- To imply relationships: groups imply that they share some kind of evolutionary relationship.

Nomenclature - framework of systematic hierarchical structure
+is stable: governed by a set of rules (International Code for the Names of Plants). Taxonomic names do change sometimes as our understanding of relationships among plants changes.
+is internationally understood (universal)