Scientific Classification - The Bogg Mindles

[OllieMartin]

I'm trying to get my head around the scientific classification of plants (yes it's for the website), it was all making sense until I compared Rhubarb and Chard.

Rhubarb is:
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Rheum
Species: R. rhabarbarum

Chard is:
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiospermae
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Genus: Beta
Species:B. vulgaris
Subspecies: B. v. var. cicla

I thought classification was a heirachy, so how can both these plants be in the order "Caryophyllales", but in different divisions and classes?
The plot thickens even more when you look into what the division "Magnoliophyta" is on Wikipedia only to discover it's just another name for "Angiospermae" (even though Angiospermae is classed as an 'unranked' division whatever that means), and yet the class "Magnoliopsida" says nothing about being similar to "Eudicots"

It'd be nice if there was an obvious path back to 'Plantae' with simple forks, but this whole classification mumbo-jumbo seems to be more of a maze.

Is it as complicated as I think, or are some of these terms interchangeable?

[zazen999]

Some are interchangeable; and some have changed over the years so it depends on who wrote the classifications and when...

[kentvegplot]

Yes, there are several 'versions' of the plant classification system. Division/Class are not universally used. Order/Family/Genus/Species are the ones which (I believe) are universal.....but someone else may be along who knows more :-)

[PAULW]

Chenopodiales, order Caryophyllales, order-Chenopodiales
plant order - the order of plants
Caryophyllidae, subclass Caryophyllidae - a group of families of mostly flowers having basal or central placentation and trinucleate pollen (binucleate pollen is commoner in flowering plants); contains 14 families including: Caryophyllaceae (carnations and pinks); Aizoaceae; Amaranthaceae; Batidaceae; Chenopodiaceae; Cactaceae (order Opuntiales); Nyctaginaceae; Phytolaccaceae; corresponds approximately to order Caryophyllales; sometimes classified as a superorder
carnation family, Caryophyllaceae, family Caryophyllaceae, pink family - large family of herbs or subshrubs (usually with stems swollen at the nodes)
Aizoaceae, carpetweed family, family Aizoaceae, family Tetragoniaceae, Tetragoniaceae - succulent herbs or small shrubs mostly of South Africa but also New Zealand and North America: carpetweeds; fig marigolds
amaranth family, Amaranthaceae, family Amaranthaceae - cosmopolitan family of herbs and shrubs
Batidaceae, family Batidaceae, saltwort family - family coextensive with genus Batis: saltworts
Chenopodiaceae, family Chenopodiaceae, goosefoot family - includes spinach and beets
Allioniaceae, family Allioniaceae, family Nyctaginaceae, four-o'clock family, Nyctaginaceae - a family of flowering plants of the order Caryophyllales
family Phytolaccaceae, Phytolaccaceae, pokeweed family - chiefly tropical herbaceous plants (including shrubs and trees) with racemose flowers: genera Phytolacca, Agdestis, Ercilla, Rivina, Trichostigma
family Portulacaceae, Portulacaceae, purslane family - family of usually succulent herbs; cosmopolitan in distribution especially in Americas

[Brengirl]

What a shot of light.