Plant systematics, Biogeography, ecology, conservation & plant genomics

Plant taxonomy is a field of science that encompasses description, identification, nomenclature, and classification of plants. Are names important? Yes, names are very important. Formerly people used vernacular names, which has some disadvantages. One of the disadvantage is the usage of vernacular names is restricted to a certain geographical area and another is more than one plant has same vernacular name. One good example is the plant ‘Brahmi’. After hearing this name some people would think that it is Bacopa monnieri while some Centella asiatica. This create confusion. Both plants are extremely different, the former belong to the family Plantaginaceae, and the later belong to the family Apiaceae. When people outside India hear the word 'Brahmi' for the first time, neither of these two names would come to their mind.

To overcome these limitations Carl Linneaus, in 1753, first proposed the binomial system of classification, which surpassed old naming systems and helps the people to recognize plants universally.

Using only morphological characters for the classification of plants is another old way of plant taxonomy study. After the advent of molecular techniques, information at DNA level came into a major role in the classification of plants, which is helpful for getting highly resolved classification system and elucidating the phylogenetic relationships between the plant species. APG system is one among them, which is evolving day by day. Current approved version is APG 4 published in 2016 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, which had undergone numerous modifications after APG 3.

The data generated through systematic studies will then eventually helpful for the conservation of plants, especially endemic plants and for controlling the invasion of exotic plant species.

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