Classifying Plants

What does classifying mean? Classifying means to sort things into groups or categories. It is a way of organising things according to similarities. Plants Animals

Why do scientists classify? Scientists believe there are over 10 million different living things in the world! They classify living things into groups, based on how they are alike and how they are different, in order to make it easier to study them.

Plants can be classified into two main groups: Those that make seeds and those that don’t make seeds. You are probably more familiar with the kind of plants that make seeds.

Plants that make seeds can be further classified into those that produce flowers and those that do not.

Flowering Plants If a plant produces flowers from its seeds you will find its seeds surrounded by fruit. The fruit protects the seed. The leaves on these plants are usually quite broad. When the fruit drops from the tree, animals might eat it. Later when they excrete their waste, the seeds are left on the ground and new plants grow!

Non - Flowering Plants Some plants make seeds but do not produce flowers. Their leaves are quite thin or they have needle like leaves. Plants that have seeds that develop into woody cones instead of flowers are called Conifers. Have you ever heard of pine, cedar or fir trees? These are all conifers.

Non - Flowering Plants Conifers need the wind to reproduce. They have male and female cones. The seeds from the male cones must land in a female cone in order for the plant to reproduce.

What are the similarities and differences between flowering and non flowering plants?

There are only two differences between them but they are pretty important ones! Non flowering plants don’t produce flowers or fruit!

Be a Detective…

Find and photograph at least ten flowering and non-flowering plants that make seeds . Print them and put them onto an organiser that you make!