PlantClassificationBotanists classify plants into groups that have similar characteristics.Plants within a group are more closely related to other members of their own group than to members of another group, just as you are more closely related to your parents and brothers and sisters than you are to families of other students in your class.Six major Plant groups are listed here. More about two other groups of organisms, Fungi and Red Algae, can be found by clicking here.You can click on each group name to find the characteristics of the group and pictures of some of its members.In each group there will be links that lead to information about some members of the group that are easily found in most of Utah.PLANTSAngiosperms (Flowering Plants) Dicotyledons Aceraceae (Maple Family) Asteraceae (Daisy Family) Fabaceae (Pea Family) Monocotyledons Liliaceae (Lily Family) Orchidaceae (Orchid Family) Poaceae (Grass Family)Gymnosperms(Plants with unenclosed seeds) Conifers Pinaceae (Pine Family) Cupressaceae (Juniper Family) Ephedra Group Ephedraceae (Mormon Tea Family)Horsetails Equisetaceae (Horsetail Family)FernsBryophytes Mosses LiverwortsGreen AlgaeTrametes(Bracket Fungi)

Animal ClassificationIn order for us to understand how all livingorganismsare related, they are arranged into different groups. The more features that a group ofanimalsshare, the more specific the group is.Animalsare given scientific names so that people all around the world can communicate aboutanimals, no matter what language they speak (these names are traditionally Latin words).Animalsbelong to a number of different groups, starting with theanimalkingdom.KingdomAll livingorganismsare first placed into different kingdoms. There are five different kingdoms to classify life on Earth, which areAnimals, Plants, Fungi, Bacteria, and Protists (single-celled organisms).PhylumTheanimalkingdom is divided into 40 smaller groups, known as phylum. Here,animalsare grouped by their main features.Animalsusually fall into one of five different phylum which are Cnidaria (invertebrates), Chordata (vertebrates), Arthropods, Molluscs and Echinoderms.ClassThe phylum group is then divided into even smaller groups, known as classes. The Chordata (vertebrates) phylum splits up into Mammalia (Mammals), Actinopterygii (Bony Fish), Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fish) , Aves (Birds), Amphibia (Amphibians) and Reptilia (Reptiles).OrderEach class is divided into small groups again, known as orders. The class Mammalia (Mammals), splits into different groups including Carnivora, Primate, Artiodactyla and Rodentia.FamilyIn every order, there are different families ofanimalswhich all have very similar features. The Carnivora order breaks into families that include Felidae (Cats), Canidae (Dogs), Ursidae (Bears), and Mustelidae (Weasels).GenusEveryanimalfamily is then divided into small groups known as genus. Each genus containsanimalsthat have very similar features and are closely related. For example, the Felidae (Cat) family contains genus including Felis (small Cats and domestic Cats), Panthera (Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars and Lions) and Puma (Panthers and Cougars).SpeciesEach individual species within the genus is named after it's individual features and characteristics. The names ofanimalsare in Latin so that they can be understood worldwide, and consist of two words. The first word in the name of ananimalwill be the genus, and the second name indicates the specific species.Example 1 - TigerKingdom: Animalia (Animal)Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrate)Class: Mammalia (Mammal)Order: Carnivora (Carnivore)Family: Felidae (Cat)Genus: PantheraSpecies: Panthera tigris (Tiger)Example 2 - Orang-utanKingdom: Animalia (Animal)Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrate)Class: Mammalia (Mammal)Order: PrimatesFamily: Hominidae (Great Apes)Genus: PongoSpecies: Pongo pygmaeus (Orang-Utan)