CBSE Class 11-science Answered
Need and Importance of Taxonomy:
There is a huge variety of plants and animals surrounding us, and it is extremely essential to pinpoint a particular plant or animal of our interest by noting the similarities or differences between them.
A biologist studying a particular plant needs to know the field of study. Thus, it becomes extremely necessary that the specimen is first identified, given a proper name so that he can communicate his ideas about it, and also know the group to which the specimen belongs.
These three activities are, in fact, the main functions of taxonomy. Thus taxonomy, which is probably the oldest of sciences, includes bases, principles, rules and procedures.
The general purpose of taxonomy is to arrange plants in such a way as to provide an information retrieval system, i.e. the name and rank or position in an ordered hierarchy, which tells us something about the specimen. It comes from two Greek words, taxis meaning arrangement and nomous meaning law or rule.