THE AM i:Kir.\X BOTANIST 137 



nii>l(.'l\- rrlalcd. Sinli rcscnihlanccs, iiuk-t-d, are- rcc<)<,fiiizc<I 

 hy llie III m liotaiiical. Givt' a man an niilainiliar j)laiU and lie 

 al iincf atUinpl^ Id cla>^ily il. lie >a\s "It lnoks like- a lilw" 

 "like a rose", or "like a t,M-ass" as the case nia\' he. The hnt- 

 aiiist with more kno\vleclt;e upon which to ha^e his conclusions 

 is more certain of the relationshii) and uses this information 

 to arrani^e the plants of the world in related iL,^roups. All the 

 plants o{ one kind he j,aoups as a species. It is not hard to 

 recognize the memhers of a species for the essential thing 

 ahout them is that thev are practically alike. Nor is it much 

 more difficult to recognize closely related species because -of 

 their general family resemblance. For instance, the red clo- 

 ver, the white clover, and the crimson clover would be recog- 

 nized at sight as members of the clover group. To a group 

 of closely related species of this kind, the botanist gives the 

 name of genus. In liiis way the .scientific names of plants 

 originate. They are simply the names of the genus and spe- 

 cies to which a given j)lant belongs. 



There are, of course, cases in which the family likeness 

 is not at .all conspicuous and then even the botanist may be puz- 

 zled. Plants of this kind are joys to the name-tinkers who 

 .ire wont to debate with much gravity whether some slight dif- 

 ference in form is sufficient to w;irrant tiie setting up of a new' 

 species. It m;iy be .said that those who are constantly engaged 

 in hairsplitting studies may perceive differences not apparent 

 to the casual observer, just as when one goes into a foreign 

 country, the people at first look jirettv much alike but even- 

 tually their indi\idual peculi.irities ajjpear. In coTisecjuence, 

 the herbarium student often makes species that the field bot- 

 ;mi>t distinguished with difficulty if :it .all. It used to be said 

 in Washington, when the craze for making violet s|)ecies was 

 at its height, that before a violet could be properly identified, 



