 Plants are extremely complex and diverse, they have thousands of species, in fact they are probably somewhere around half a million different species, and these are just the ones we know about. They are no doubt many more that haven't been fully discovered yet. It is estimated that 1 in 5, so 20% of plant species are threatened with extinction. In order to continue studying these plant species, we need to organise them in different groups. This is known as plant classification. Plants all have some common parts that maintain their survival, but beyond that they can look very very different. These differences help botanists classify and organise plants. Plants within a group are more closely related to other members of their own group than there are two members of another group. Just like we as humans are more closely related to the great apes than we are to other mammals. So how are plants classified? The plant kingdom can be split into plants with seeds and plants without seeds. Not every plant grows from a seed, like ferns and mussels for example. They grow from spores instead. Other plants use asexual reproduction and grow new plants from rhizomes or tubers. The evolution of a seed was a huge evolutionary step for plants. It meant they could grow anywhere on earth in any environment, they would no longer be limited to extremely moist conditions. Seed plants can be split into flowering plants and non-flowering plants. These have scientific names of gemnosperms and angiosperms. As in the name, non-flowering plants do not produce flowers. They are also reproduced by means of exposed seed or ovule. Gemnosperm means naked seed. Like with conifers, a cone on a pine tree is a naked seed and they do not produce flowers. Angiosperms are usually tall evergreen trees, often with needle-shaped leaves. They are usually found in dry places. Now for angiosperms, the largest and the most diverse group in the plant kingdom, angiosperms consist of two major groups, monocotyledons and dicotyledons. These groups differ with respectively roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. Some observable differences are that monocots have parallel veins and petals in groups of three, whereas dicots have net black veins and petals in groups of four or five. There are other differences as well, but we don't need to worry too much about these at this stage. Grass and maize are examples of monocots, whereas trees, sunflowers and roses are examples of dicots. So there we have some of the ways plants are classified. You need to remember that non-flowering plants are called gemnosperms and have naked seeds. And then flowering plants are called angiosperms, which can be separated into monocots and dicots. If you liked the video, give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe, comment below if you have any questions. Why not check out our Fusco app as well? Until next time.