METHODS OF CLASSIFICATION 101 



These several assemblages may be subdivided into suh -species, 

 sub-genera, sub-orders, sub -classes, and sub -divisions. 



145. Botanical names of plants.— The formal or scientific 

 name of a plant consists of two Latin words, the first that of the 

 genus and the second that of the species to which the plant 

 belongs. Thus, Primus is the name of the genus to which all 

 plums belong; Primus doniestica is the common plum from 

 Europe, and P. americana of a conspicuous native plum. All 

 botanical names are Latinized ; those of genera are of one word, 

 a substantive; those of species also one word, commonly an 

 adjective, which must agree with the generic name in grammati- 

 cal form. The names of botanical varieties, always modifiers, 

 follow the specific names, until recently Avith the prefix var. 

 but now frequently without; as Primus americana mollis. This 

 system of nomenclature is in use b}^ all biologists and is called 

 the Binomial System, although in botanical varieties the name 

 is a trinomial, particularly when written without the inter- 

 mediate var. 



146. Publication and priority. — Botanists record new species 

 in some recognized text or periodical, and as the same species is 

 often named differently by separate persons, to prevent con- 

 fusion the one who names and describes a new species has his 

 name or an abbreviation of it affixed to the Latin binomial ; as, 

 Prunus americana, Marsh., a botanist by the name of Marshall 

 having first described this plum. In monographs of species and 

 similar formal texts it is usual to cite the book, the volume, page, 

 and date of printing showing where and when a species was first 

 described. 



147. Pomologioal names of varieties are seldom Latinized and 

 usually consist of one or two names which commonly record a 

 character of the plant or commemorate a person or place; as, 

 Yellow Transparent, Bartlett, Concord. Rules governing the 

 publication of descriptions and names of pomological varieties 

 are given in the code of nomenclature of the American Pomologi- 

 cal Society on page 92. These rules are not as well standardized 

 nor so well recognized by workers in pomology as those in use 

 by botanists, but they are being adopted more and more to the 

 great profit of pomology and the industries that have to do 

 with it. 



