OUTLINE OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY 45 
CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS 
When we observe a considerable number of plants we may find 
among them striking differences in manner of growth, in compara- 
tive size and in the form of leaves and flowers as well as in other 
details. But on further observation we may find in this diversified 
collection a number of groups, the individuals of which can only, 
with difficulty, be distinguished from each other, or which are 
quite indistinguishable from a slight examination. Observing still 
further we may see that some of these groups, the individuals of 
which are alike, strongly resemble some other groups, while the 
individuals of one group differ in some important respects from 
individuals of the other groups. We may carry these comparisons 
to several degrees of approximate resemblance and we may find 
that of the diversified collection, which at first seemed to possess 
no organization, we may separate the individuals into several more 
or less approximately related groups. 
Taking those first, the individuals of which resemble each other 
more than they resemble any others in the collection, we would 
have the first of our series of groups. Selecting next from these 
first groups the groups which most strongly resemble each other, 
that is, which have the greatest number of common characteristics, 
we would have a second grouping which, with perhaps many com- 
mon features, would still include some differences. Still carefully 
observing we might still arrange this secondary group into a more 
general assemblage. 
This is what has been done in the classification of plants. In 
respect to the first group, the group in which the individuals so 
strongly resemble each other that, given the name of one individual 
we call all the others by the same name, it has been found that 
from the seed of one of these individuals we may obtain a plant 
just like the parent plant and like the other individuals of the 
original group. 
Such a group of individuals, from the seeds of which may be 
produced succeeding generations of similar plants, is known as a 
Species. 
We need not then further define a Species than by saying that 
it is a group of individuals resembling each other more than they 
resemble individuals of any other group and that from the seed or 
from cuttings may be produced other generations similar to the 
first. 
Our second grouping would include plants which, although hav- 
