Classification and naming of plants

The plant kingdom

There are four main groups in the plant kingdom.

Bryophytes	Pteridophytes	Gymnosperms	Angiosperms

Naming plants

The rules or system of naming plants is known as nomenclature.

You may be able to recognise a plant and call it by its common name, but unfortunately many plants share the same common name. These common names can change from state to state or country to country - this arises because of language differences - so it can be quite confusing.
For example:

Many plants have the common name of wattle, but there are more than one thousand wattle plants. There are four western, three golden, three hairy and three red wattles. There are also silver wattles, orange wattles and coastal wattles.

The plant in the photograph is known as a golden wattle and also as an Australian golden wattle.

But there is another plant called a Sydney golden wattle and yet another called the western golden wattle. In some areas, the western golden wattle is called the western silver wattle!

So the same plant can have a different common name in different places, and different plants can have the same common name in different places. So how are you going to work out which plant is which?

To make a positive identification of the plant you need to find out its botanical or scientific name. With this system every plant has its own unique name.

Who is responsible for the system of naming plants?

The plant naming system used throughout the world today is based on the work of Carl Linnaeus in 1753. He was responsible for the binomial system ( bi = two, nomial = name) of naming plants.

In this system, plants are named using two words representing the genus and species.

For example - Eucalyptus camaldulensis.

You can visit any Australian State or Territory or anywhere around the world and the botanical or scientific names will be the same.

How to write scientific or botanical names

The Genus name always starts with a Capital letter and is written in italics. For example Acacia and Callistemon.

Here are some examples:

Acacia podalyriifolia

Grevillea banksii

Note:

• Genus and species names are Latin words and are usually printed in italics.
• Common names do not need capital letters (unless they are proper nouns eg Norfolk Island pine).
• You can use generic names as common names, but without capitals and italics, for example, banksias, boronias or grevilleas.

Family names

In the study of flowering plants, the family level in classification has been found to be particularly useful.

Biologists often refer to various flowering plant families eg Family MYRTACEAE or Family PROTEACEAE.

The FAMILY NAME - eg MYRTACEAE is usually written in CAPITAL LETTERS but this can vary throughout the world.

Note:

• The modern FAMILY NAME always ends in ACEAE
• A FAMILY has a number of genera (plural for genus) grouped together. They have similar characteristics.

Here are a few FAMILIES you may meet in your work.

	ASTERACEAE - daisy family
	MYRTACEAE - tea tree family
	POACEAE - grass family
	PROTEACEAE - banksia and grevillea family

AIZOACEAE - pigface family
AMARANTHACEAE - amaranth family
CHENOPODIACEAE - blue bush and salt bush family
DILLENIACEAE - hibbertia family
FABACEAE (syn. PAPILIONACEAE) - pea family
GOODENIACEAE - leschenaultia family
LAMIACEAE (syn. LABIATAE) - mint family
LILIACEAE - lily family
LOBELIACEAE - lobelia family
LORANTHACEAE - mistletoe family
MIMOSACEAE - acacia or wattle family
MYOPORACEAE - myoporum family
PITTOSPORACEAE - pittosporum family
RUTACEAE - boronia family - aromatic foliage and flowers
SANTALACEAE - sandalwood family
SOLANACEAE - tomato family
STYLIDIACEAE - trigger-plant family
THYMELAEACEA - pimelea family

Now some practice at writing botanical or scientific names

FAMILY NAME	Genus	species	Common name
MIMOSACEAE	Acacia	longifolia	Sydney golden wattle
MYRTACEAE	Callistemon	salignus	white/ willow bottlebrush or pink tips

As you can see from the example, Callistemon salignus has three common names! How confusing!!!

It can be difficult to identify the plant accurately without the use of botanical or scientific names.

More information about plant names

Occasionally a plant will have a cultivar or a hybrid name as well, eg Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon' a popular garden plant.

A cross between Grevillea bipinnatifida and Grevillea banksii resulted in the cultivar Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon'.

Sometimes you may see the abbreviation syn. (synonym) after a plant name. This means the plant was called something else but now has another name.
eg Callistemon macropunctatus - syn. Callistemon coccineus. Melaleuca affine - syn. Melaleuca polyanthum.

Meaning of plant names

It is sometimes easier to learn and remember plant names if you can have some understanding of the meaning of their names.

Pimelea rosea has pinkish flowers - rosea means coloured red.

Grevillea robusta is a tall tree - robusta means strong or robust.

Grevillea rosmarinifolia - rosmarina means rosemary, folia means foliage - has leaves like the herb rosemary.

Pittosporum undulatum - has leaves that are wavy - undulate means wavy.