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Principles and Practices of Taxonomy

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Principles and Practices of Taxonomy Principles and Practices of Taxonomy INTRODUCTION When man first learnt to speak, he felt a desire to name and classify objects around him. As time went on, he changed into a more civilised creature and the need for communication grew acute. At present, there are actually very few things and events that we know and yet have not named them. Though the identification of objects has been an easy task, their classification have presented manifold problems. As far as the plant world is concerned, about 3,00,000 species of green plants are currently recognised, plus over 1,00,000 fungi, a few thousand bacteria and other microscopic organisms which some biologists would classify as plants” (Stace, 1980). There is a particular branch of botany which deals with the study and description of the variation in plants “the investigation of the causes and consequences of this variation, and the manipulation of the data obtained, to produce a system of classification” (Stace, 1980). This is called plant taxonomy. “It is”, according to Jeffrey (1982), “neither difficult nor complicated. Yet many people seem to think that it is such a learned and academic activity that they cannot possibly understand it. Others regard it as old-fashioned and out-moded, a relic of a bygone age of science that no longer demands their serious attention.” The term systematics is commonly synonymous with taxonomy, although some biologists prefer to draw a line of demarcation between them. In the latter case, taxonomy is limited to a classificatory investigation and systematics conveys the wider definition already given. Heywood (1977) stated “that one of the major roles of taxonomy is to produce a classification (or system of classification) of organisms that best reflects the totality of their similarities and differences.” On the other hand, Radford et al. (1974) mentioned the following principal aims of plant systematics: (i) A convenient method of identifying, naming and describing plants; (ii) A classification scheme to express phylogenetic relationships; (iii) An inventory of plant resources—local, regional and continental; (iv) An understanding of evolutionary process and pathway; (v) An integrating and unifying role in the training of biology students, particularly the relationship between the many biological fields or types of evidence and the diversity of organisms; to be a synthesising as well as a filling and retrieval device. Thus, plant taxonomy can be studied with both empirical and interpretative approach (Davis and Heywood, 1963). Mason (1950) considered plant taxonomy as a synthesis of the following inter- related fields: 3 4 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 1. Systematic botany, the fact finding focal point, which comprises cytological and genetical studies as well as any other techniques applied to the problem. 2. Taxonomic system, based on the information that are available and include the (a) taxonomic concepts of plant groups or taxa; (b) concepts of the evolutionary sequence of characters; (c) classification and arrangement of taxa and (d) phytography or description of taxa. 3. Nomenclature, a process of naming plants based on international rules agreed upon by botanists so as to ensure an uniform and reasonably stable system. 4. Documentation, which embraces the preservation of fossil or living floras in a museum or herbarium in the form of illustrations and type specimens. By employing the above four fields, we are building up a great fund of information. These have helped us to throw light on the living, dynamic and fluctuating plant populations. There is still an immense scope for further work in this most exciting and rewarding field of biology. HIERARCHY IN PLANT KINGDOM Just as a continent is divided into nations, nations into countries or States, States into provinces, provinces into divisions, divisions into subdivisions, subdivisions into districts, etc., so the Plant Kingdom is divided into a number of categories which differ in rank and size. A basic unit* in plant classification is the species. A species is defined as a single type of living organisms. For example, Spider-lily is a species and Tiger-lily is a species. These organisms are structurally similar and have common ancestors. A genus (pl. genera) is a group of closely related species. Thus, the genus Rosa is made up of many species of Rose. They vary among themselves due to vegetative features, but they all possess a common quality of “roseness” with respect to reproductive characters. A group of closely related genera is known as a family. Again, the Rose family is composed of several genera, among which mention may be made of the Apple genus (Pyrus), Peach genus (Prunus), Quince genus (Cydonia), Rose genus (Rosa), Strawberry genus (Fragaria) and others. All these have certain resemblances, yet they differ in some well defined characters. The scientific name of a family ends in “aceae”; hence, Rosaceae is the technical name of the Rose family. A group of closely related families form an order, the scientific name of which ends in “ales”. By way of example, it is worth mentioning that the Rose order (Rosales) contains the Legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae), Orpine family (Crassulaceae), Rose family (Rosaceae), etc. These families have certain fundamental features of floral structure, indicating a close relationship. Orders are arranged into proper units till the level of Plant Kingdom is reached. Such schemes are called hierarchies or hierarchical classifications which may be illustrated as a plan-view (box-in-box presentation) or as a side-view or an elevation-view (dendrogram). When groups are large, they are often divided for the sake of convenience. So there may be a suborder, ending in “ineae” (Rosineae); a subfamily, ending in “oideae” (Rosoideae); a tribe, ending in “eae” (Rosae); a subtribe, ending in “inae” (Rosinae) and a subgenus as Eurosa or section as Gallicanae. Units below the rank of a species are sometimes provided as subspecies (written as ssp.), variety (var.), subvariety (subvar.), form (f.) and clone (cl.). *“A taxon (pl. taxa) is any taxonomic grouping, such as a pkylum, a family or a species. It is a useful general term, and can be used to indicate the rank of a group as well as the organisms contained within that group” (Stace, 1980). PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF TAXONOMY 5 While there is no limit to the number of ranks contained in a hierarchy, the ICBN* has recognised twelve main ranks. The latter include Kingdom, Division, Class, Order, Family, Tribe, Genus, Section, Series, Species, Variety and Form (Stace, 1980). A complete set of modern taxonomic categories in their mutual affinity is presented below: Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Subphylum Class Subclass** Order Suborder Family Subfamily Tribe Subtribe Genus Subgenus Section Subsection Series Subseries Species Subspecies Variety Subvariety Form Subform NAMING OF PLANTS Botanists refer to plants by proper scientific names and not by common or colloquial names as done by laymen. Common names are of limited value for scientific purposes. They are made up of words from the native language of the country in which the languages are spoken. Thus, in Brazil and Portugal, they are Portuguese words; in Australia, New Zealand, England and the United States, they are English words; in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, they are of Arabic origin; in India, common names consist of Indian words derived from at least 14 different languages. A Dutch botanist, who is not familiar with Hindi, would be awestruck by such Hindi names as Boot, Katahar, Lashun and Papita. * International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, the internationally agreed rule book of green plant and fungal nomenclature. ** Superorder. 6 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY Such English names as Butter-and-eggs, Forget-me-not, Goat’s-beard, Hen-and-chicken, Love-in-a- mist, Milkweed, Skunk Cabbage, Snapdragon, Widow’s Tears and Wood-sorrel would be meaningless to a Chinese or Japanese botanist. Another disadvantage is that a single species of plant may be designated by several common names which vary from one country to another and even within the borders of a single country. Instance can be cited for the European Waterlily which goes by 14 other English names, 44 French names, 81 Dutch names and 105 German names—a grand total of 244 names for one and the same plant! Furthermore, the name Mahogany is assigned to some 300 different types of plant. Not all plants have been given common names; out of approximately 15,000 species of orchids, only a few hundred bear common names. Although common names may kindle one’s imagination or appeal to one’s sense of humour, they are often misleading or unsatisfactory. The student of plants, like any other scientist, does not restrict his investigations solely to the confines of one state. His work is read internationally and he must keep in touch with what is going on along with his line elsewhere and in other parts of the world. If he studies a certain kind of plant and publishes a report upon it in a scientific journal, his material must be identical so that other workers around the world will know what he is talking or writing about. The scientific name of a plant consists of two separate words. The first word (generic name) designates the genus of the organism and begins with a capital letter, the second (specific name or specific epithet) being the species with a small letter. Scientific names should always be underlined when written by hand or typed or given in italics when printed. The scientific names of plants are based on Latin—a language known by scholars throughout the world. In writing out the description of a plant, use is made of the lingua franca in vogue during the Middle Ages and not of the classical Latin of Cicero or Horace. As Latin is concise and precise, it is particularly suited to the needs of a descriptive phase of the natural sciences.
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