The objective of this course is to identify thrust areas of modern taxonomy without shifting focus from the traditional ones.
Goal and essence of taxonomy; systems of classification – artificial, natural and phylogenetic. Current systems of classification – Takhatajan, Cronquist, Thorne, APG System (Judd 2002).
The international code of Botanical nomenclature – Principles, rules and recommendations. Principle of priority; typification; rule of valid and effective publication; author citation; retention and rejection of names; change of rank; nomenclature of fossils, lichens, fungi and hybrid & cultivated plants.
Taxonomic hierarchy: Concept of genus and family, primitive vs Advanced characters, homology, analogy, parallelism, convergence, horizontal and vertical classification, monophylly and polyphylly.
Floras, Monographs, Manuals, Bibliographies, Catalogues, Taxonomic index, Keys for identification. Introduction to flora of India, endemic & endangered species, Red data Book, role of Botanical survey of India. Herbaria, botanical garden.
Diagnostic features, systematics, phylogeny and economic importance of Ranunculaceae, Magnoliaceae, Fabaceae (Papillionaceae, Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae), Rosaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Apiaceae, Apocyanaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Convolvulaceae,Solanaceae, Acanthaceae, Lamiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Orchidiaceae, Liliaceae, Araceae and Poaceae.
Chemotaxonomy: application of phytochemistry to taxonomy.
Numerical taxonomy: Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU’s), selection of characters, data processing, clusters analysis.
Biosystematics: Concept and categories, methods in experimental taxonomy.
Computerised systematics: GIS, Data banking and use of computers in taxonomy.
Molecular approaches to Plant Taxonomy: Applications of DNA markers in plant taxonomy.