Phylogenetic Classification of Plant Kingdom: Phylogenetics is a part of systematic that addresses the inference of relationship among the groups of organisms. These relationships are hypothesized by phylogenetic inference methods that evaluate heritable traits such as DNA sequences.

Phylogenetic Classification of Plant Kingdom

• Phylogenetic system was based on dividing the plant kingdom into plants with concealed reproductive organs such as Cryptogamae (hidden reproduction) and Phanerogamae (visible reproduction). This system was developed in 1839-1887.
• Plant classification is basically done to place the plants into groups or categories to show relationships among them. Scientific classification follows the rules and system that standardize the group successive categories into a hierarchy as well as results.

• Evolutionary history of the organism is called Phylogeny.
• These systems are based on Phylogenetic relationships of organisms.
• Phylogenetic systems are also called Cladistics (Systematic classification based on evolutionary relationships of organisms in order of their assumed divergence from ancestral forms) and the graphic representation of evolutionary relationships is called family tree or Cladogram.
• Engler and Prantl proposed the phylogenetic classification and published it in their book “Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien” in 23 volumes.
• Engler and Prantl divided plant kingdom into two sub kingdom (1) Cryptogamia: invisible sex organs e.g. Thallophyta, Bryophyta and Pteridophyta.; (2) Phanerogamia: visible sex organs e.g. Gymnosperm and Angiosperm.
• Later on, well-developed phylogenetic systems of classification were created by Hutchinson, Tippo, Takhtajan, Robert Whitaker, Robert Thorne and Cronquist.
• Oswald Tippo proposed the biggest phylogenetic classification of the plant kingdom and it is most accepted for books and study.
• Fossil records are the most important evidence in systematics but if fossil records are not available then other branches of taxonomy like cytotaxonomy, numerical, chemotaxonomy etc. play important roles to find out phylogeny.

The merits of the Phylogenetic Classification of Plant Kingdom are:
a) It tells the evolutionary history of an organism.
b) It gives information about the common ancestor of a group.
c) It tells the relatedness between organisms i.e. how closely two species are related to each other.

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By Team Learning Mantras