WHAT IS A SPECIES? 145 



thought best to apply the term species to any forms 

 which have been developed under cultivation. 



The term species, then, is applied to the smallest 

 distinct groups of wild plants; that is, to those 

 groups which cannot be further subdivided into 

 other definite groups. There may be some differ- 

 ences in form, in the plants composing a species, 

 but if these different forms do not exist in distinct 

 groups by themselves, but show in the various in- 

 dividuals intermediate forms connecting one with 

 another, the plants possessing such peculiarities 

 are either unnoticed by the botanist and are called 

 mere variations, or if they occur regularly in con- 

 siderable numbers and are merely connected with 

 the form which is considered the type by inter- 

 mediate forms, they are recognized and named 

 varieties. Species and wild varieties generally 

 come true or nearly true from seed ; mere variations 

 and most cultivated varieties do not, until they have 

 been fixed by a more or less prolonged course of 

 selection. 



