Merits and demerits of natural system of classification
Answers
MERITS
1. The description of families and genera is very accurate.
2. The system is very handy for identification purposes.
3. The system is of great practical convenience.
The British and Commonwealth herbaria therefore still adopt this system in arrangement of families.
4. Each family had a synopsis at the beginning which is very useful in identification.
5. The system starts from Ranales, which are now universally considered to be most primitive living angiosperms.
DEMERITS
1. The system does not give any idea as to the evolutionary history of any genus, family or order.
2. In this system grouping of plants is mainly based on single and artificial characters; with the result, that closely allied families are placed widely apart.
3. The group “Monochlamydeae” is entirely artificial.
4. Gymnospermae is placed between the Dicotyledones and Monocotyledones, which is extremely anomalous.
5. The system does not show any phylogenetic relationship. The main demerit is that this system does not give us any idea as to the evolutionary history of any genus, family or order nor does it give any idea of phylogenetic relationship between them.