GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS 185 



relation to each other and facilitate reference 

 to particular plants. As Latin and Greek are 

 the languages universally acquired by educated 

 people, they are the ones chiefly used in 

 Botanical nomenclature. 



The terms in most frequent use for this pur- 

 pose of classification are Variety, Spe.cies, 

 Genus, Family and Order. 



A Species is a group of plants so like one 

 another that we suppose them to have de- 

 scended from a common parent. Trifolium 

 pratense (Red Clover) . 



(That is, all Red Clovers form one species.) 



A Variety. When a number of plants in a 

 species are unlike the rest in one or more minor 

 particulars these unlike plants form a Variety. 



A Genus is a group of several or many spe- 

 cies resembling each other in important mat- 

 ters of structure. 



Trifolium (Clover) including such similar 

 species as Red, White, Rabbit 's-foot and Hop 

 Clover, Polygonum (Knotweed), including 

 Knotgrass, Lady's Thumb, Smartweed, Tear- 

 thumb and False Buckwheat. 



Plants had most cumbersome names years 



