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Descriptive botanical names: Article 16 of the ICBN rules that a name above the rank of family may be either descriptive or formed from the name of an included family. The latter leads to names such as Magnoliophyta and Magnoliopsida.

Descriptive plant names are decreasing in importance but many are still in use, such as Plantae, Algae
Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds....
, Musci, Fungi, Embryophyta, Tracheophyta, Spermatophyta, Gymnospermae, Coniferae, Coniferales, Angiospermae, Monocotyledones, Dicotyledones.






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Descriptive botanical names: Article 16 of the ICBN rules that a name above the rank of family may be either descriptive or formed from the name of an included family. The latter leads to names such as Magnoliophyta and Magnoliopsida.

Descriptive plant names are decreasing in importance but many are still in use, such as Plantae, Algae
Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds....
, Musci, Fungi, Embryophyta, Tracheophyta, Spermatophyta, Gymnospermae, Coniferae, Coniferales, Angiospermae, Monocotyledones, Dicotyledones. Such descriptive names have a very long history, often preceding Linnaeus. As Latin was the universal scientific language in those days such names are in good Latin, and usually take the form of nouns in the plural.

At the rank of family
Article 18 of the ICBN allows a descriptive name, of long usage, for the following eight families. For each of these families there also exists a name based on the name of an included genus (an alternative name that is also allowed, here in parentheses) :

family Compositae = "composites"

family Cruciferae = "cross-bearers"

family Gramineae = "grasses"

family Guttiferae = "latex-carriers"

family Labiatae = "lipped ones"

family Leguminosae = "legumes"

family Palmae = "palms"

family Umbelliferae = "parasol-bearers" -		 (Asteraceae
Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae is the largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species.The name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster , while 'Compositae', an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in o...
)

(Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, also known as the crucifers, the mustard family or cabbage family is a Family of flowering plants ....
)

(Poaceae
Poaceae

Poaceae or Gramineae is a family in the Class Liliopsida of the Magnoliophyta. Plants of this family are usually called grasses; the shrub- or tree-like plants in this family are called bamboo ....
)

(Clusiaceae
Clusiaceae

The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. is a family of plants including about 37 genera and 1610 species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsule for seeds....
)

(Lamiaceae
Lamiaceae

Lamiaceae or Labiatae, also known as the mint family, is a family of plants comprising about 210 genera and some 3,500 species. It has been considered closely related to Verbenaceae but several recent phylogenetic studies have shown that numererous genera classified in Verbenaceae belong instead in Lamiaceae, whereas the core genera of...
)

(Fabaceae
Fabaceae

Fabaceae or Leguminosae is a large and economically important family of flowering plants, which is commonly known as the legume family, pea family, bean family or pulse family....
)

(Arecaceae
Arecaceae

Palm or Palmae or Panamea , the palm family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the Monocotyledon order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known Genus with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate climates....
)

(Apiaceae
Apiaceae

The Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of usually aromatic plants with hollow stems, commonly known as umbellifers. It includes cumin, parsley, carrot, coriander/cilantro, dill, caraway, fennel, parsnip, celery, Queen anne's lace and other relatives....
)


Special provision has been made for what might be described as one of the subunits in Leguminosae. If this were more universally adopted it would help in avoiding the confusion attending the name Fabaceae (which can refer to either of two, quite differently sized, families). This subunit has two special names (in both the ranks relevant here):

family Papilionaceae = "butterfly-like" - -

subfamily Papilionoideae		 (Fabaceae)

(Faboideae)