Simple Plant Classification
Humans have classified plants for thousands of years, with early systems distinguishing plants based on edibility, toxicity and utility. In the 18th century, Swedish physician Carolus Linnaeus developed the plant classification system---or taxonomy--- that botanists continue to use as of 2010. From Linnaeus' system, four broad groupings of plants emerged. Does this Spark an idea?
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Taxonomy
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The highest taxonomic level, the plant kingdom, includes all plant species. As you progress through Linnaeus' system, subsequent levels apply increasingly stringent criteria to sort plants into narrower and narrower groups. Once you reach the species level, all members of the group are so closely related that they can reproduce together and generate fertile offspring. Below the kingdom level, phyla classify plants broadly based on vascular structure and reproductive strategy.
Bryophytes
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Bryophytes---or mosses---have no roots, no vascular tissue and no seeds. They absorb water directly into their leaves and reproduce with spores.
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Ferns
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Ferns have developed roots and vascular tissue, which allows them to grow larger than their nonvascular predecessors, but they continue to reproduce with spores.
Gymnosperms
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Gymnosperms represent the earliest seed plants, which produced seeds exposed on cones. Most gymnosperms rely on the wind for seed fertilization. Gymnosperms include conifers, cycads and the ginkgo tree.
Flowering Plants
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Flowering plants---the most recently evolved and most reproductively successful forms of plant life---protect their seeds inside of flowers. Flowers attract pollinators, such as birds and honeybees, which carry pollen from plant to plant.
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References
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