Question

The earliest serious efforts to classify the living things were made by

• A. Greek philosophers
• B. Latin American scientists
• C. British herbalists
• D. Indian hakims

Answer 1

The correct option is A Greek philosophers

Theophrastus (370-285 BC), a Greek philosopher, is considered father of botany. He was first to attempt to classify plants of the basis of their morphological features into tree, shrubs, subshrubs and herbs. He considered the trees as most advanced ones and classified and described around 500 plant species in his book “Historia Plantarum”.

Aristotle (382-332 BC), a Greek philosopher, recognized the resemblance in part of bodies among different individuals as being constant from generation to generation. He classified living things into plant, animal and human beings based on their morphological similarities and dissimilarities.