Horticulture in Florida
Science, Mathematics, and Language Arts
Brief Description:
Materials:
 Copies of Plant Names and Horticulture in
Florida activity sheet for each student
 Tree or plant identification resource guides
Students will determine the different
characteristics used for grouping and naming
plants with common and scientific names.
Students will also interpret graphs to become
acquainted with the economic importance of Preparation:
 Make copies of Plant Names and
the horticultural field to the economy of
Horticulture in Florida activity sheet for
Florida.
each student.
 Obtain copies of plant identification
Objectives: Students will be able to:
materials, if available (not necessary).
1. Identify the different characteristics that
are used for grouping and naming plants.
Time:
2. Determine common names of plants and
Activity One: 45-60 minutes
trees from their scientific names.
3. Explain the importance of using scientific Activity Two: 30 minutes
names.
4. Interpret graphs to learn the economics of
facets of Florida's horticultural industry.
Life Skill:
1. Communicating and Relating to Others
2. Understanding Systems
3. Acquiring, Analyzing and Using
Information
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
Background:
Florida ranks second in the nation in the production of vegetables and
horticulture products. Florida's growers led the nation in the production of
cut ferns, houseplants and foliage. Total industry sales in 2010 were
estimated at $12.33 billion. Estimated total direct employment in the industry was 244,188 fulltime, part-time and seasonal. The industry is very complex and not only involves growers, but scientists, entomologists, field and
greenhouse workers, marketers, shippers, retailers, and others. One of the
activities in this lesson will provide data about the economic importance of this industry.
Classifying Plants
One of the goals of naming or classifying organisms is to provide each species with a unique
name, thereby permitting easy and effective communication about organisms. The two basic
types of plant categorization are known as artificial and natural classification systems.
Artificial systems are used for basic plant identification while natural systems attempt to
classify organisms according to their genetic and evolutionary relationships.
The natural system of classification attempts to categorize organisms according to their
evolutionary relationships. Taxonomists, scientists who specialize in natural classification
systems, have described over 400,000 different species of plants. Taxonomic groupings are
devices that enable one to identify a specific organism. The largest groupings are called
kingdoms, and the smallest are species (or, in some cases, subspecies or varieties). As we
proceed from kingdoms into smaller categories, the plants in each category have more and
more traits in common until they are so much alike that they can interbreed (these are species).
The taxonomic hierarchy or taxonomy for classifying plants is: kingdom, division, class, order,
family, genus, and species.
Another fundamental type of classification system is referred to as an artificial categorization
system. The goal of an artificial system is easy plant identification from observable plant
characteristics such as flower color or plant habit. Artificial systems may also be used to group
plants by economic or scientific features. From a practical standpoint, home gardeners may be
more interested in grouping plants by their ability to tolerate shade or full sun rather than their
evolution. Likewise, farmers classify crops according to their optimal growing temperature
that can be broken down into warm and cool season plants. Examples of cool season crops
are: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, and celery, garlic, leek, kale, onion, carrot, mustard, and
white potato. Warm season crops include: cucumber, eggplant, melon, sweet potato, and
tomato.
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
The classification of plants as annuals, biennials, or perennials is an example of an artificial
system used by gardeners to identify plants. Gardeners know that once a seed germinates, its
growth and development depends on its life cycle, as well as, surrounding environmental factors (temperature, nutrients, light, oxygen and carbon dioxide, and parasites or herbivores). In
this system, plants are grouped into three kinds of life cycles: (1) annuals grow for one season
only, producing seed then dying; (2) biennials grow vegetatively during the first season and do
not produce seeds until the second year, after which they die; and (3) perennials grow for several to many years, producing a new crop of seeds each year.
Scientific Names
Scientific names are important plant identification tools. Scientific names consist of two
words, much like the first and last names of people. The first word is the genus name, and it is
always capitalized. The species name is the second word, and it is always lower case. The
species name is a very specific adjective or noun that narrows down an entire genus to just one
plant. Some plants have many common names that can be very confusing. Knowing the scientific name of plants is a sure way of identifying the plant correctly.
The following are some examples of scientific names for common plants and trees.
Red Maple - Acer (maple) rubrum (red)
Pink Pinxter Azalea - Rhododendron (rose tree) canescens (off-white hairs)
Spider Plant - Chlorophytum (green plant) comosum (tufted)
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
Introduction:
1. Ask the students:
*Did you know that Florida is a major producer of foliage and flowers?
2. Explain that Florida ranks 2nd nationally in horticulture production, with sales of more than
$12.33 billion.
3. Today's activity is to learn how to classify plants the way a horticulturist would.
4. Ask the students:
*How could we classify plants? (Answers will vary. We could group plants into categories based on their characteristics and how we use them or in other ways.)
Examples:
edible and not edible
fruits and vegetables
poisonous and nonpoisonous
terrestrial and aquatic plants
*Can you think of some other ways plants are grouped? (Answers will vary, examples include: herbaceous and woody; deciduous and evergreen; and temperate and tropical
plants.)
5. Another way plants are grouped is by their scientific botanical name, which is based on
the plant's structure and evolution.
Taxonomists are responsible for naming species. Every kind (or species) of plant known
to science has a Latin name consisting of two words. The first is the name of the genus to
which a given species belongs, and the second is the species that describes the plant.
6. Ask the students:
*Why would we bother to classify plants? (to ease communication)
*If I say vegetable to you, what does that tell you? or flower? (Answers will vary but the
point is made. Once we all have the same terminology we can communicate more easily. That is what this system of naming plants does. The common name may vary from
region to region, country to country, but the scientific name remains the same.)
7. It’s time to learn more about this scientific classification system.
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
Activity One:
1. Hand out a copy of the Plant Names activity sheet and a plant or tree identification guide to
each student.
2. Explain to students that the genus is capitalized, species is lower case and the entire name is
underlined or italicized.
3. Instruct students to match the common plant names with the scientific name.
4. When students are finished, ask them to pronounce the genus and species names aloud.
5. Discuss plant classification with the students by asking these questions:
*What are some ways we classify plants? (How we use them, toxicity, where they grow,
scientific name, plant (botanical) characteristics.)
*What does a taxonomist do? (classify and name species)
*How many scientific names were you familiar with before the exercise? (Answers will
vary.)
*If you were not familiar with scientific names, what clues did you use to match the common plant names with their scientific names? (Many English words were derived from
Latin.)
*What are some of the advantages of using a plants scientific botanical name?
(People all over the world use this same system; there can be many common names for a
single plant, but only one scientific name.)
*Discuss with students the advantages of using Latin to name things even though the Latin
words are hard to pronounce.
(Latin is accepted worldwide as the technical language of scholars. Latin is considered a
d"ead"language and not subject to change. Using one language to name plants helps to
standardize identification techniques.)
*Ask students if they know what their scientific name is? (Homo sapiens)
6. Have students imagine they "found" a new species of plant. Discuss with them how they
would go about naming it?
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
Activity Two
1. Hand out the Horticulture in Florida activity pages.
2. Instruct students to read the various graphs and answer the questions.
3. Discuss the information with the students.
Alternatives or Variations:
1. Have the students research a single commodity using the Internet and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website listed in the reference section, write a
report on its significance to Florida's Agriculture, and graph the last several years of production and include facts important to its future in Florida.
2. Have the students create graphs and charts on single commodities from the data available
on the Internet.
3. Invite a local horticulturist to class to describe his/her business.
Evaluation Options:
1. Utilize the completion and accuracy of assigned work to assess understanding of content
and ability to perform operations.
2. Select a set of data from the chart and have the students create the most appropriate graph
to display the information for easy comprehension.
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.