HOW CAN WE CLASSIFY PLANTS?

Plants form one of the five kingdoms of living things. As members of the same kingdom, all plants have some characteristics in common.

We can classify plants into groups depending on their characteristics:
SEED PLANTS: seed plants reproduce by creating seeds. There are two main types of seed plant:

• Angiosperms (or flowering plants): angiosperms grow flowers. Fruit grows from the flowers and the seeds grow inside the fruit.

  

  By Paolo Neo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

  

  By A. Felber (fotografed by myself) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• Gymnosperms (conifers): gymnosperms produce cones. The seeds grow inside the cones. Some conifer seeds are called nuts. 

  

  Kevin Hale [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

  

  By brewbooks from near Seattle, USA (Bunya Pine cone Showing Bunya nuts) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

NON-SEED PLANTS: some plants don´t have seeds. They produce special cells called spores. When spores fall to the ground, they grow into new plants:

• Ferns: ferns have special leaves called fronds. ferns are anchored to the ground by their roots. The roots also absorb water and nutrients from the soil.

  

  By Sanjay ach (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

• Mosses: mosses produce capsules. Mosses don't have roots. They are anchored to the ground by rhizoids. Mosses absorb water and nutrients through the rhizoids, stem and leaves.

  

  By V. van Zeijst [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons