Merits and Demerits of Bentham and Hooker's classification of plants

Merits of Bentham and Hooker's classification of plants

1.      Bentham and Hooker's classification is the most natural system, based on actual examination of specimens.

2.      The description of plants is quite accurate and reliable.

3.      As it is easy to follow, it is used as a key for the identification of plants in Kew herbarium and several other herbaria of the world.

4.      Although this system is natural, most of the aspects of this system show affinity to modern concepts of evolution. For example, theorder Ranales, which is the first order in the arrangement of plants, has been given a primitive position in this system. Recent taxonomic findings also indicate that the members of Ranales are the most primitive living angiosperms.

5.       The placement of monocotyledonae after the dicotyledonae also appears to be in accordance with the evolutionary trends.

Demerits of Bentham and Hooker's classification of plants

1. The placement of Gymnospermae in between dicotyledonae and monocotyledonae is an error.

2. Several important floral characters have been neglected in this

system.

3. Advanced family Orchidaceae has been considered as primitive among monocotyledons and it is placed in the beginning of the system.

4. In this system, some closely related families have been separated and placed under different groups. For example, all the families of series

Curvembryeae of Monochlamydeae are related to Caryophyllaceae of series Thalamiflorae of Polypetalae, but they are separated.

Unrelated families have been grouped nearer. For example, Podostemaceae of series Multiovulatae aquaticae of Monochlamydeae deserves a place in Rosales of the series Calyciflorae of Polypetalae. Similarly Laurineae of series Daphnales of Monochlamydeae deserves a place in Ranales of the series Thalamiflorae of polypetalae. Thus, two unrelated families Podostemaceae and Laurineae are grouped nearer.