How is plant taxonomy making group classifications? Generally one botanist starts with a small group of plants which resemble each other and of which one expects that they are all deriving from the same ancestors. This is the basic group of plants: a species. Afterwards one will look at more species that resemble each other, for example species that all have the same form of flower. Those species then share one group together. This group is called a genus. One or more similar genera are placed in a higher hierarchical group. This group is called a family (Latin: familia). And thus one continues. One or more families together form an order (Latin: ordo), one or more orders together form a class (Latin: classis), one or more classes together form a department (Latin: Devisio) and all departments together form the Plant Kingdom. In a hierarchical order, with the largest group at the top, this system is shown below.
White clover (Trifolium repens) belongs to the following groups:
PLANT KINGDOM | Regnum Vegetabile |
DEPARTMENT | Spermatophyta |
CLASS | Dicotyledonae |
ORDER | Fabales |
FAMILY | Fabaceae |
GENUS | Trifolium |
SPECIES | repens |
Some botanists continue subdividing groups in subgroups. Within the species three of such subgroups are recognised: subspecies, variety, and forma.