List of systems of plant taxonomy

A pioneering system of plant taxonomy, Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, Leiden, 1735

This list of systems of plant taxonomy presents “taxonomic systems” used in plant classification.

A taxonomic system is a coherent whole of taxonomic judgments on circumscription and placement of the considered taxa. It is only a “system” if it is applied to a large group of such taxa (for example, all the flowering plants).

There are two main criteria for this list. A system must be taxonomic, that is deal with a large number of plants, by their botanical names. Secondly it must be a system, i.e. deal with the relationships of plants. Although thinking about relationships of plants had started much earlier (see history of plant systematics), such systems really only came into being in the 19th century, as a result of an ever increasing influx from all over the world of newly discovered plant species. The 18th century saw some early systems, which are perhaps precursors rather than full taxonomic systems.

A milestone event was the publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus which serves as the starting point of binomial nomenclature for plants. By its size this would qualify to be on this list, but it does not deal with relationships, beyond assigning plants into genera.

Note that a system is not necessarily monolithic and often goes through several stages of development, resulting in several versions of the same system. When a system is widely adopted, many authors will adopt their own particular version of the system. The Cronquist system is well known for existing in many versions.

Chronological list of systems

Pre-Linnaean

• See also: Pre-Linnaean taxonomy

  Theophrastus classification

  Historia Plantarum (Enquiry into Plants), c. 300 BC

  Causes of Plants, c. 300 BC

  Dioscorides classification

  De Materia Medica, c. 60 AD

  Albertus Magnus classification

  De Vegetabilibus, c. 1256 [1]

  Caesalpino classification

  De Plantis, 1583

  John Gerard classification

  Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, 1597

  Gaspard Bauhin cassification

  Pinax theatri botanici, 1623

  John Ray classification

  Historia Plantarum, 1686–1704

  Tournefort classification

  Éléments de botanique, 1694

From Linnaeus to Darwin (pre-Darwinian)

• Linnaean systems

  Systema Naturae, 1st edition, 1735.

  Systema Naturae, 10th edition, 1758 (vol. 1), 1759 (vol. 2). Starting point of zoological nomenclature.

  Species Plantarum, 1753. Starting point of botanical nomenclature.

  Genera Plantarum, 1737 (1st ed.), 1753 (5th ed.).

  Philosophia Botanica, 1751.

• Adanson system

  Familles naturelles des plantes, 1763.

• de Jussieu system

  A.L. de Jussieu (1789). Genera Plantarum, secundum ordines naturales disposita juxta methodum in Horto Regio Parisiensi exaratam. 

  (available online at Gallica)

• de Candolle system

  A. P. de Candolle (1819). Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, ou exposition des principes de la classification naturelle et de l’art de décrire et d’etudier les végétaux (2nd ed.). 

  A. P. de Candolle; et al. (1824–1873). Prodromus systemati naturalis regni vegetabilis sive enumeratio contracta ordinum, generum specierumque plantarum huc usque cognitarum, juxta methodi naturalis normas digesta. 

  (available online at Gallica)

• Lindley system

  Lindley (1830). An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany. 

  (available online at BHL)

  Lindley (1845). The Vegetable Kingdom. 

  (available online at BHL)

• Bentham & Hooker system

  G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker (three volumes, 1862–1883). Genera plantarum ad exemplaria imprimis in herbariis kewensibus servata definita. 

  (available online at Gallica)

• Baillon system

  H. Baillon (thirteen volumes, 1867–1894). Histoire des plantes. 

Post Darwinian (Phyletic)

See also: Phylogenetic Systems

• Eichler system

  Eichler (1883). Syllabus der Vorlesungen über Phanerogamenkunde (3rd ed.). 

• Engler system

  A. Engler & K. Prantl (1887–1915; 2nd edition, 1924–). Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien. 

  A. Engler (1892). Syllabus der Vorlesungen über specielle und medicinisch-pharmaceutische Botanik [or, in further editions, Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien]. 

• Dalla Torre & Harms system

  K.W. von Dalla Torre & H. Harms (1900–1907). Genera Siphonogamarum, ad systema Englerianum conscripta. 

• Bessey system

  Charles E. Bessey (1907). "A Synopsis of Plant Phyla". Univ. Nebraska Studies 7: 275–358.

  Charles E. Bessey (1915). "The phylogenetic taxonomy of flowering plants". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (Missouri Botanical Garden Press) 2 (1/2): 109–164. doi:10.2307/2990030. JSTOR 2990030. 

• Wettstein system

  R. Wettstein (in two volumes, 1901-1908; 2nd edition, 1911; 3rd edition, 1923-24; 4th edition, 1933-35). Handbuch der systematischen Botanik. 

• Rendle system

  Alfred Barton Rendle. The Classification of Flowering Plants 1904, 1925

• Lotsy system

  Johannes Paulus Lotsy. Vorträge über botanische Stammesgeschichte, gehalten an der Reichsuniversität zu Leiden. Ein Lehrbuch der Pflanzensystematik. 1907-1911

• Benson system

  Lyman David Benson. Plant Classification 1957

• Hutchinson system

  J. Hutchinson (two volumes, 1926–1934; 2nd edition 1959; 3rd edition, 1973). The families of flowering plants, arranged according to a new system based on their probable phylogeny. 

• Melchior system

  H. Melchior (1964). Adolf Engler, ed. Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien (12th edition, II. Band ed.).  (also known as modified Engler system, in Angiospermae)

• Takhtajan system

  A. Takhtajan (in Russian, 1966). A system and phylogeny of the flowering plants. 

  A. Takhtajan (1969, transl. from Russian by C. Jeffrey). Flowering plants: origin and dispersal. ISBN 0-05-001715-2. 

  A. Takhtajan (1980). "Outline of the classification of flowering plants (Magnoliophya)". Botanical Review 46 (3): 225–359. doi:10.1007/BF02861558. 

  A. Takhtajan (1997). Diversity and classification of flowering plants. ISBN 0-231-10098-1. 

• Cronquist system

  A. Cronquist (1968; 2nd edition 1988). The evolution and classification of flowering plants. ISBN 0-89327-332-5. 

  A. Cronquist (1981). An integrated system of classification of flowering plants. ISBN 0-231-03880-1. 

• Goldberg system

  Aaron Goldberg (1986). "Classification, Evolution and Phylogeny of the Families of Dicotyledons". Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 58: 1–314. doi:10.5479/si.0081024x.58.  (available online: Full text (PDF) here) [there is also a comparison among 11 Dicotyledons systems since 1960 until 1985]

  Aaron Goldberg (1989). "Classification, Evolution and Phylogeny of the Families of Monocotyledons". Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 71: 1–73. doi:10.5479/si.0081024x.71.  (available online: Full text (PDF) here)

• Dahlgren system

  R.M.T. Dahlgren (1975). "A system of classification of angiosperms to be used to demonstrate the distribution of characters". Bot. Notiser 128: 119–147. 

  R.M.T. Dahlgren (1980). "A revised system of classification of angiosperms". Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 80 (2): 91–124. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1980.tb01661.x. 

  R.M.T. Dahlgren (1983). "General Aspects of Angiosperm Evolution and Macrosystematics". Nordic Journal of Botany 3: 119–149. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1983.tb01448.x. 

  R.M.T. Dahlgren & al. (1985). The families of the monocotyledons: structure, evolution, and taxonomy. ISBN 0-387-13655-X. 

  G. Dahlgren (1989). "An updated Angiosperm Classification". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 100 (3): 197–203. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1989.tb01717.x. 

• Thorne system (1992) (also see, Thorne system, 2000)

  R.F. Thorne (1968). "Synopsis of a putative phylogenetic classification of flowering plants". Aliso 6 (4): 57–66. 

  R.F. Thorne (1983). "Proposed new alignments in the angiosperms". Nordic J. Bot. 3: 85–117. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1983.tb01447.x. 

  R.F. Thorne (1992). "Classification and geography of flowering plants". Botanical Review 58 (3): 225–348. doi:10.1007/BF02858611. 

  R.F. Thorne (1992). "An updated phylogenetic classification of the flowering plants". Aliso 13: 365–389. 

  R.F. Thorne (2000). "The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae". Botanical Review 66 (4): 441–647. doi:10.1007/BF02869011. 

• Kubitzki system (1990- )

  K. Kubitzki & al. (1990 ongoing). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. 

• Reveal system (1999)

  Reveal System of Classification 1999

• Judd system (1999-2008)

  (Modified APG)

  Judd, Walter S. (2008). Plant systematics: a phylogenetic approach. 3rd ed. Sinauer Associates. ISBN 0-87893-407-3. Retrieved 29 January 2014. 

• APG system

  'APG I' (1998)

  APG (1998). "An ordinal classification for the families of flowering plants". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden (Missouri Botanical Garden Press) 85 (4): 531–553. doi:10.2307/2992015. JSTOR 2992015. 

  W.S. Judd & al. (1999; 2nd edition, 2002). Plant systematics: a phylogenetic approach. ISBN 0-87893-403-0. 

  APG II (2003)

  APG (2003). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141 (4): 399–436. doi:10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.t01-1-00158.x. 

  (Available online: Abstract | Full text (HTML) | Full text (PDF))

  APG III (2009)

  APG (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III.". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (2): 399–436. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. 

  (Available online: [2])

• Shipunov system (1991-)

  (Available online: Full text PDF )

Other systems

• Bartling system ([3])
• Deyl system
• Endlicher system ([4])
• Fritsch system (algae, [5])
• Gundersen system
• Hallier system
• Hoek, Mann and Jahns system (algae)
• Mez system
• Novák system
• Pascher system (algae, [6])
• Pulle system
• Rafinesque system ([7])
• Rouleau system
• Smith system (cryptogams - algae, fungi, bryophytes and pteridophytes)
• Skottsberg system
• Soó system
• Stebbins system
• Strasburguer system ([8])
• Tippo system
• van Tieghem system

External links

• List of systems on a Russian server, by Alexey Shipunov
• Minelli, Alessandro (1993). Biological Systematics. The State of the Art. Chapman & Hall, London. 387 pp. Appendices 2-23, with major systematic works.
• Review of systems 1703-1845, in Lindley, John (1846): The Vegetable Kingdom
• Rao M. M., Reddy, S.M. (2007), Plant Taxonomy: Systems of Classification, in Reddy S. M. et al. (eds.) University Botany - 3, New Age International, pp. 7-32, ISBN 978-81-224-1547-6

Bibliography

• Reddy, S.M. (2007), University botany: Angiosperms, plant embryology and plant physiology, New Age International, p. 7, ISBN 978-81-224-1547-6