A system of plant taxonomy, the Thorne system of plant classification was devised by the American botanist Robert F. Thorne (1920–2015) in 1968,[1] and he continued to issue revisions over many years (1968–2007).
The Bioinformatics Working Group Center for the Study of Digital Libraries at Texas A&M University lists the March 1999 version[9] (and other classification systems).
[12] For a discussion of the various suffixes used for superorders (-florae vs. -anae), see Brummitt 1992,[13] and Thorne 1992.
[5] In this latter paper, Thorne sets out his reasons for abandoning -florae for -anae, following contemporary practice.
Superorders The 1992 system lists 69 orders and 440 families The 2007 system lists 12 subclasses, 35 superorders, 87 orders, 40 suborders, and 472 families.