Garden Flower Botany Primer – Classification

Why is it important to learn how garden flowers are grouped or classified?

For one, it will make it easier for you to order plants and flowers. You also will better understand terms you see in books and catalogs. And you’ll learn about some cultural or growth factors to consider when selecting flowers for your garden.

To begin with, flowers and plants can be classified or grouped many different ways, depending on your perspective. Botanists may be most interested in flower structure and plant family relationships. Horticulturists, such as myself, are more interested in the correct names for flowers, their growth cycles, and their cultural requirements.

So, let’s take plant names first. You probably know that plants have common and scientific names. The latter is based on Latin and consists of two main parts—the genus and the species name. This “binomial” system of nomenclature (plant names), as it is called, was first developed by the Swedish botanist Carl von Linnaeus (1707-1778).

The species have many other subdivisions, just as on the other end genera are grouped into families (usually with similar flower characteristics). The main subdivisions gardeners are interested in are the species breakdowns into either varieties or cultivars. The word “cultivar” is confusing to some, but it just refers to a cultivated variety–one arising out of human cultivation. Cultivars usually only differ in one main characteristic, such as growth habit, flower color, height, or similar.

Common names often are easier to understand and pronounce, so most people use them. But when I refer to Spurge, am I talking about Euphorbia or Pachysandra? This potential confusion, even among different common names in different regions and countries, is why