Learn plant families to help you grow as a gardener

There are always a lot to learn as a gardener, and many of them can only be learned by doing, really getting out and dirtying hands. But there are certain things that gardeners can learn by reading, looking or listening to.

Although most of us are not botanists and can have less interest in studying the biology of botany or deep plants, learning about plant families and other botanical bases can often help us grow as gardeners.

What are plant families?

When we garden, we often simply learn the common names of plants. But they also have formal scientific Latin names. These names help to classify plants, and although they are not always repaired, these categorizations can help make things clearer to identify, use and study these plants.

Specific plants are specific varieties of specific species. Species are members of a certain genre. And each genre belongs to a larger family of plants.

For example, plants from the Lamiaceae family (Mint family) include garden herbs such as lavender, basil, mint, oregano, thyme and rosemary.

Plants of the same family share all certain physical characteristics which can help us to see their relationship with each other and which help us identify them. In the Lamiaceae family, for example, members will generally have aromatic leaves, among other shared characteristics. (See more on the Mint family below.)

Why learn about plant families?

Learning plant families can be a big step forward for those who want to be able to identify more plants around them.

Even when we cannot identify plants with species and variety, knowing which family they belong can often give us a lot of information we need. When we can identify different families of plants, we can refine the field to identify specific species.

This will often help us, even when we do not know the specific species at first, to understand the great characteristics of the plant we look at, and what will make it happy, where it could be placed in our gardens, or what neighbors it will love.

Take, for example, plants growing in a kitchen garden. When we know a little about vegetable families and what species belong to which family, we can understand which plants should be shot in the crop rotation plans and the order in which to plant them. He can also help us develop successful polycultures and company planting plans.

How to learn plant families

Learning from plant families is something that we can all do in different ways. But I find that a good way to start is to search for the plants you already have in your garden.

Find out which family the different plants belong to, then throw a good overview of these plants to see their common characteristics. By comparing different plants in the same family, you can often start building an image of the features that belong to plants in this family.

10 families of plants to learn

Apiaceae (the carrot family)

Also known as umbelliferous, the plants of this family include carrot, parsnip, celery, parsley, angelica, anise, carvi, coriander, cumin, dill and fennel – but also a certain number of extremely toxic and phototoxic species. Annual plants, biennials or herbaceous perennial plants, plants in this family have, among other things, flowers that form inflorescences in terminal shows with tiny flowers with five petallises.

Asteraceae (the Daisy family)

Sometimes also called the composite or sunflower family, most species in this family are herbaceous plants, although some can also be vines, shrubs or trees. Their main characteristic is to have flowerheads with sometimes hundreds of individual flagships surrounded by a verticilla of protective bracts, which are generally apparently daisy.

Brassicaceae (the cabbage family)

Sometimes known by the older name of Cruciferae, this family of flower plants is mainly herbaceous plants, although some may be shrubs. This family contains a large number of common vegetables as well as certain ornamental garden plants. The leaves are simple, but sometimes deeply incised. Flowers with four petals are carried on terminal inflorescences and lack bracts.

Fabaceae (the pea family, legumes)

Many plants within this family are important agricultural for their edible yields and often also for the fixing of nitrogen. Most plants in this family are perennials, although there are also a lot of trees, shrubs and vines. The members of this family tend to have distinct “peas” flowers.

IRIDACEAE (the Iris family)

The members of this family are perennial plants with bulbs, terminals or rhizomes. They push forces and usually have grass -shaped leaves. The petals have several shades, which gives them their name, of iris, the Olympian god who transported messages on earth along a rainbow.

Lamiaceae (the Mint family)

Aromatic in all parts, members of this family are often culinary and / or medicinal herbs. The family includes mint, basil, rosemary, sage, flavor, oregano, marjoram, thyme, hysop, lavender, etc. – and also includes a number of other edible and / or ornamental garden plants. The flowers are generally bilaterally symmetrical, with petals merged in the upper and lower lips, and the leaves are opposed, each pair with right angles to the previous ones or Silets.

Liliaceae (the Lily family)

The Lily family has large flowers with parts arranged in three, linear leaves with veins parallel to the edges, alternating on the stems or in rosette at the base, and they generally grow from bulbs, sometimes rhizomes. Many plants in this family are important ornamental garden plants.

Ranunculalaceae (the Buttercup family)

Especially annuals or herbaceous perennials, sometimes wooded climbers, plants in this family generally have solitary and bisexual flowers, generally with four or five segments of external flowers. The flowers of flowers are generally free, not merged. A number of flowers commonly found in the gardens belong to this family of plants.

Rosaceae (the pink family)

The pink family contains not only roses but also many edible plants cultivated in temperate climatic gardens, including apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, almonds, loats, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc. Many fruit producing plants belong to this family.

Solanaceae (the Nightshade family)

The potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant (eggplant) and several other commercially important plants belong to this family. But the same goes for highly toxic plants. The Solanaceae have great morphological variability.

Learning a little about this and other families of plants will certainly keep you in good place as a gardener.