Lesson 2.5 Identification of Plants
Section 2: Selecting Plants
Lesson 5: Identification of Plants
Scientific Name
All living organisms are treated as belonging to classifications or categories known as taxonomical ranks; it's a way of describing and uniquely identifying a plant.Click here to view all the classifications of plants; the list is extensive and would be very difficult to remember. So, at the simplest level of classification, a plant is made up of two parts; these two names are called a binomial.
A plant's binomial is made up of:
- a generic name (or genus); this name is always capitalized
- a specific name (or epithet); this name is always lowercase
The scientific name for the carnation flower is the "Dianthus"; this is how scientists and florists would refer to this flower. The carnation's official scientific name is Dianthus caryophyllus.
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The carnation's taxonomy (taxonomical ranking) is as follows:
-
kingdom - Plantae, meaning it is a plant, as opposed to an animal
-
phylum - Magnoliophyta, meaning it is a flowering plant, as opposed to non-flowering
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class - Magnoliopsida, meaning it is a dicotyledon, rather than a monocotyleden - having two seed leaves rather than just one
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order - Caryophyllales, a category that includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, etc.
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family - Caryophyllaceae, meaning it belongs to the pink family
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genus - Dianthus, meaning it is pink
- species - caryophyllus
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If you visit a greenhouse, you will see the scientific and common names of plants, or their seeds, on the tags that identify the plants. If you buy a package of seeds, you will see the
common name
and the
scientific name
for each plant.
The experienced gardener, greenhouse operator, or field crop producer
knows the scientific names of all produce, since it is the best way of
uniquely identifying products without ambiguity or uncertainty.
An example of nomenclature
species: gallica
scientific name: Rosa gallica
common name: Apothecary Rose