Bacteria are Classified as Plants 53 



such international understanding, science would soon turn into a 

 series of closed cells, each country adhering to its own, oftentimes 

 narrow, opinions. The concept of One World is also important in 

 biology. 



Classification supplies valuable information to a person trained 

 in the field. It is often uninteresting to many students who are 

 taking a terminal survey course in microbiology, and it is not the 

 intention of this book to perpetuate this natural reluctance to learn 

 new names. But a brief discussion of this topic will help to em- 

 phasize the relative position that bacteria occupy in the plant 

 kingdom. 



Since some plants closely resemble others, and are quite distinct 

 from still other plants, we can group them together under ap- 

 propriate headings. The following is the generally accepted 

 simplified breakdown, or table of organization, for bacteria : 



KINGDOM: Plant 



PHYLUM: Thallophyta (exhibit no roots, no stems, and no leaves.) 

 CLASS: Schizomijcetes (microscopic, unicellular, chlorophyll-free 

 plants that reproduce asexually by fission, and exist either 

 as rods, spheres, or spirals). 

 ORDER: I. Euhacteriales (The true bacteria, including most of 

 the organisms discussed in an elementary course of 

 this type.) 

 II. Actinomycetales (Elongated cells with a definite 

 tendency to branching.) 



III. Chlamydobacteriales (Filamentous, colorless, alga- 

 like bacteria which may or may not be en- 

 sheathed.) 



IV. Myxobacteriales (Slime bacteria, exhibiting group 

 movement as a unit; crawling, creeping motion 

 away from the center of the colony.) 



V. Spirochaetales (Slender, flexuous cell body in the 

 form of a spiral with at least one complete turn 

 —from 6 to 500 microns in length.) 



Each order, in turn, is subdivided into families; the families 

 contain genera, and the genera include various species. It should 

 be made clear that sharp lines of demarcation do not always exist 

 between these man-made groupings. 



