Plant Classification

Classification Systems  Climatic  Warm Season  Cool Season  Tropical  Use  Agronomic  Horticultural  Ornimental  Taxonomic  Scientific Naming System  Names are always in Latin  The same name is used world wide

Botanical Classification of Crop Plants: Kingdom –_____________(All Plants) Phylum – _____________(Seed Plants) Class –_____________(Seeds in fruits) These are the same for all crop plants.

Two Subclasses that are important in Crop Plants: 1. Monocotyledonae – one seed leaf in the embryo. 2. Dicotyledonae - two seed leaves in the embryo..

Taxonomic or Scientific Classification  Generally you will start out with a plant family name  Asteraceae  Poaceae  Followed by Genus  Magnolia  Species  grandiflora L.

Types of Names  Common  Prickly Sida  Local  Teaweed  Scientific  Sida spinosa

MonocotDicot Monocot Dicot

Crop Plants  Two Major Types  Cereals Poaceae – (Gramineae) all grasses  Legumes Fabaceae – (Leguminoseae)

Cereals—Family Poaceae  Wheat — Triticum aestivum  Corn — Zea mays  Rice — Oryza sativa  Rye — Secale cereal  Sorghum — Sorghum bicolor  Oats — Avena sativa  Millet – Pennisetum glaucum  Barley Hordeum vulgare

Cereal Grains  10-15% _________  8-14% ___________  70-75% __________  2-7% _________

Grains  can’t be eaten whole  must be processes  pounded  ground  cooked  roasted  soaked  parched

Characteristics of grasses: 1. Most are herbaceous with hallow cylindrical stems. 2. Stems are made of ____________ 3. Leaves have parallel veins. 4. Leaves consist of two parts a sheath and a leaf. 5. Roots are fibrous.

Legume Crops—Family Fabaceae  Produces seed that contain two to three times more protein than cereals  The 2 nd most important plant family

Legume Yield  Legume yields have not increases over time as much as have cereal crops  less research  more personal income —eat less legumes  yield more variable  legumes produce own nitrogen

Biological Nitrogen Fixation  _________________ takes N 2 from the air and produces plant usable forms of nitrogen  legumes can grow on nitrogen poor soils  legumes do use soil N for first few weeks

Legume Crops  Common Beans — Phaseolus vulgaris  Soybean — Glycine max  Cowpea — Vigna unquiculata  Alfalfa – Medicago sativa

Characteristics of Fabaceae Family: 1. Leaves alternate on stems, netted veins and most are compound. 2. Fruit is a pod that contains several seeds. 3. Root is a taproot. 4. Often roots have nodules caused by Bradyrhizobium bacteria which fixes nitrogen in a plant useable form.

Other Families in Field Crops: Polygonaceae – buckwheat Chenopodiaceae – sugarbeet Cruciferae – mustard, rape, and kale Solanaceae – potato, tomato Malvaceae – cotton Compositae – sunflower, safflower

Binomial System of Nomenclature: Latin is used for scientific names because it is a “dead” language. When writing the scientific name it should be written as follows: Genus species

Classification based on Life Cycles: 1.Annuals –________ from seed in one year. Sunflower, corn, soybeans (most field crops) 2.Winter Annuals – ______________then produce seed the following summer. Wheat, rye, barley

3.Biennials –_________. First year is vegetative, 2 nd year reproductive. Musk thistle, Sugar beets, Sweetclover, carrots. 3.Perennial - living several years. Most pasture grasses, alfalfa, sorghum.