Which botanist introduced the natural system of classification?
- German
- swedish
- British
- Indian
Answer – British
The Bentham-Hooker system, also known as “The Bentham and Hooker system of plant classification” is a system of plant classification developed by the two 19th century botanists George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker.
They published the system in three volumes between 1862 and 1883, in which they aimed to classify all known plants of the world based on the latest scientific knowledge of the time.
The Bentham-Hooker system was an improvement over the earlier systems of plant classification, such as the one developed by Linnaeus, in that it was based on a broader range of characteristics and it took into account the evolutionary relationships between plants.
They proposed to classify plants into seven main groups:
- Phanerogamia
- Crytogamia
- Schizocarpia
- Gymnospermae
- Angiospermae
- Monocotyledons
- Dicotyledons
It was later improved upon by other botanists such as Adolf Engler and Melchior Treub.