There are wild and cultivated plants in the world. Their main difference lies in the fact that cultured people grow purposefully, display various varieties within species.
However, this is an unscientific classification of flora representatives.
Generally accepted classification of wild and cultivated plants
Scientists divide all plants into two sub-kingdoms: lower and higher. The first group consists of four divisions: brown, green, red and diatoms. The higher ones include such departments: moss-like, horsetail-like, lycopsform, psilot-like, fern-like, gymnosperms and angiosperms. The first five groups of plants reproduce by spores, and the last two by seeds. Gymnosperms differ from angiosperms in that they have flowers, so the plants of this department are also called flowering plants. Most of the world's cultivated plants belong to the angiosperm division. In general, flowering and gymnosperms are by far the most numerous groups of plants.
Variety of angiosperms
Wild and cultivated plants propagated by seeds are very diverse andnumerous.
Let's first look at the scientific classification of these representatives of the flora. So, wild and cultivated plants belonging to the flowering department are divided into two classes depending on the structure of the seeds: monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous. Monocotyledons include such families as cereals and lilies. Such plants in most cases are cultivated. Dicotyledons include families such as birch, willow, nightshade, cruciferous, legume, Compositae, Rosaceae. Among them, there are also many crops that are grown by man.
Variety of gymnosperms
Plants that belong to the gymnosperms can be divided into four classes: conifers, cycads, gnetos and ginkgos. These are mainly wild species.
In all the families listed above, genera and species are distinguished.
Other plant classifications
Depending on the life form, wild and cultivated plants can be divided into eight groups:
- Trees. These are perennial plants with a pronounced woody trunk from 2 meters in height.
- Shrubs (shrubs). Perennial representatives of the flora with woody stems, but do not have a pronounced trunk. Branching of such plants starts from the soil itself.
- Subshrubs. These are perennial plants with woody lower parts of the stems and herbaceous upper ones. Their height is from 1 meter. This is not such a large group of plants. It belongs onlysome types of ephedra, astragalus and the like.
- Shrubs. They have the same qualities as shrubs, but with a lower height - no higher than 0.5 meters.
- Semishrubs. Very similar to shrubs, but have approximately the same height as shrubs. Subshrubs include, for example, some types of wormwood.
- Succulents. Perennial plants with succulent, fleshy stems and leaves that contain spare water. This group includes many indoor flowers: aloe, Kalanchoe, cacti, etc.
- Lianas. They need support to maintain their position. They are divided into curly and climbing.
- Herbs. Plants with succulent green non-woody shoots. Many cultivated plants and houseplants have this life form.
- There are also life forms such as parasites and epiphytes. They are similar in that they settle on other plants. However, the difference between them is that parasites feed off their "hosts", while epiphytes do not cause any harm to the plants they live on.
Wild and cultivated plants, examples of which can be seen in the pictures, can also be divided into groups depending on their lifespan. So, there are annual, biennial and perennial plants. Annuals and biennials are mostly herbaceous plants, while perennials can be shrubs, subshrubs, trees, etc.
Wild and cultivated plants: examples
Let's considercultivated and wild plants that are used by humans in various fields.
The table below shows them.
| Growing | Groups | Examples |
| Wildlife | drug | calendula, valerian, wild rose, field chamomile, conifers |
| for pulp and paper and furniture industries | spruce, birch, pine | |
| for eating | lingonberries, blackberries, blueberries, blueberries | |
| weeds | quinoa, bluegrass, nettle, thistle | |
| Cultural | decorative | narcissus, rose, tulip, orchid |
| beans | soybeans, beans, peas | |
| cereals | corn, wheat, rice, oats, millet | |
| sugar-bearing | sugar beets | |
| starchy | potatoes | |
| fibrous | flax, cotton, hemp, kenaf | |
| oilseeds | sunflower | |
| melons | watermelon, melon | |
| fruits | apple, pear, plum | |
| vegetables | tomato, cucumber, cabbage, radish, radish, turnip | |
| stimulating | coffee, tea, tobacco | |
| feeding | fodder beets, turnips |
Now youyou know what cultural and wild-growing representatives of the flora are and what groups they are divided into.
