The plant kingdom

One of the major roles of plant taxonomy (in common with other branches of biological taxonomy) is the production of a classification so as to allow the diversity of nature to be broken down into units which can be recognized, named and communicated about. As Stace (1980) has recently stated, ‘The need for some system of classification is absolute, for it is only by first naming organisms and then grouping them in recognizable categories, that one can begin to sort out the vast array which exists’.