Since the dawn of civilisation, there have been many attempts to classify
living organisms. It was done instinctively not using criteria that were
scientific but borne out of a need to use organisms for our own use – for
food, shelter and clothing. Aristotle was the earliest to attempt a more
scientific basis for classification. He used simple morphological characters
to classify plants into trees, shrubs and herbs. He also divided animals
into two groups, those which had red blood and those that did not.
In Linnaeus' time a Two Kingdom system of classification with
Plantae and Animalia kingdoms was developed that included all
plants and animals respectively.
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