B:. THE STUDY OF PLANTS 
certain ones of which the leaves instead of being curved 
merely at the tip, as in the majority of black willows, are 
“faleate’’ or curved throughout like a scythe blade. All 
the individuals having this peculiarity are accordingly re- 
garded as forming a distinct variety, and when we wish to 
speak particularly of these we use the name Salix nigra 
variety falcata. 
Cultivated varieties which are known, or supposed, to have 
arisen in comparatively recent times, and show only minor 
peculiarities, are commonly distinguished from varieties of 
wild plants and from certain very well-marked varieties in 
cultivation by being named in English, French, or some 
other modern language. Thus we speak of the ‘“ Baldwin” 
and the ‘‘Spitzenburg”’ varieties of apple. As subordinate 
kinds or subvarieties of cauliflower we have similarly the 
“early snowball”’ and the ‘‘autumn giant.” 
The question as to whether a certain group of individuals 
should be ranked as a species or as a variety is one which is 
often difficult to decide, and different botanists sometimes 
reach different conclusions. In all cases, however, a variety 
is understood to be a group of individuals included within a 
species and consequently connected with the other members of 
the species by a series of intermediate forms. 
10. The genus. In the same way that those individuals 
which possess some special set of peculiarities constitute a 
variety, and just as there may be several varieties in which 
the individuals are enough alike to form a species, so different 
species possessing in common certain features of a more 
general nature are grouped into a genus (plural genera). 
The name of the genus to which a given species belongs appears 
as the first component of the botanical name. In the examples 
already mentioned Gypsophila, Morus, Quercus, Salix, or Brassica 
is the generic part; fastigiata, alba, nigra, rubra, aquatica, or oleracea, 
1 The beginner can hardly be expected to grasp more than vaguely 
the distinctions here presented between genus, species, and variety; 
and the same may be true as well of certain other distinctions to be con- 
sidered presently. His conceptions are likely to grow more definite, 
however, as his acquaintance with plants increases, and his efforts to 
gain such wider acquaintance will be much facilitated by starting with 
some conception, vague though it be, of what botanists mean by the 
groups of different rank which they distinguish. 
