Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of naming and classifying organisms.

The five basic kingdoms that all living organisms belong to

 Animalia Fungi Monera Plantae Protista

Scientists like everything to be nicely ordered and the living world is no exception to this rule.

Over the years the scientists have collected data on organisms and then formulated how these should be grouped, only to realise that the classification system required rewriting based upon new evidence. No doubt there will be modification to the data I have collected by the time you read this.
Latin is used by the scientist when finding names for the organisms. This naming method allows differing nationalities with differing languages to be able to have commonality. Scientists, for example, would refer to the humble potato as Solanum tuberosum .

If you take a domestic cat and a lion for example, you will see that certain characteristics are alike. However the characteristic shared by the domestic cat and the lion are not all shared by man or a dog. Taking all the animals mentioned including man they are all totally different from a mushroom or a tree. The only common point is that they are living.

The scientists have worked out that living organisms can be divided into 5 fundamental groups. The groups are called kingdoms. Again arguments reign so I have chosen one set to follow. I will not be adding all living creatures in the world, only those relating to gardening.

Animalia -- Kingdom containing animals

Fungi -- Kingdom of organisms that contain mushrooms etc

Monera -- The kingdom contain bacteria

Plantae -- Plants are in this Kingdom

Protista -- Single celled mirobes.

Below are links to the separate kingdoms

Animalia Fungi Monera Plantae Protista

Each Kingdom is subdivided as follows:-

Phylum

Class

Subclass

Super order

Order

Family

Sub Family

Tribe