Identification and Classification
Two goals of plant taxonomy are the identification and classification of plants. The distinction between these two goals is important and often overlooked.
Plant identification is the determination of the identity of an unknown plant by comparison with previously collected specimens or with the aid of books or identification manuals. The process of identification connects the specimen with a published name. Once a plant specimen has been identified, its name and properties are known.
Plant classification is the placing of known plants into groups or categories to show some relationship. Scientific classification follows a system of rules that standardizes the results, and groups successive categories into a hierarchy. For example, the family to which the lilies belong is classified as follows:
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Liliopsida
- Order: Liliales
- Family: Liliaceae
- Genera : ... ...
The classification of plants results in an organized system for the naming and cataloging of future specimens, and ideally reflects scientific ideas about plant inter-relationships.
Read more about this topic: Plant Taxonomy
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“Introspection is self-improvement and therefore introspection is self-centeredness. Awareness is not self-improvement. On the contrary, it is the ending of the self, of the “I,” with all its peculiar idiosyncrasies, memories, demands, and pursuits. In introspection there is identification and condemnation. In awareness there is no condemnation or identification; therefore, there is no self-improvement. There is a vast difference between the two.”
—Jiddu Krishnamurti (b. 1895)