Definition

All living things were traditionally placed into one of two groups, plants and animals. This classification may date from Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), who made the distincton between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus (1707–1778) created the basis of the modern system of scientific classification, these two groups became the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Metaphyta or Plantae) and Animalia (also called Metazoa). Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algaewere removed to new kingdoms. However, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts.

The term "plant" generally implies the possession of the following traits: multicellularity, possession of cell walls containing cellulose and the ability to carry out photosynthesis with primary chloroplasts.^[7][8]