m 



-T^ 



Bitisinns of l^|p '^pgpfflfilp Kingbora. 



lUui illy tclt by all amateur cultiiiists in the 

 LtiMc kinj^dom. Ages before the knowledge 

 d nito the complete science called botany, 



RE VT mtei 

 dniMonsot 

 ot pi nils di 



cLit nil icl itionships lud affinities were known to exist between 

 m un ol them, but the formal distribution into the subjoined 

 di\ isions and subdl^ isions is a comparatively recent addition, 

 and has been adopted by scholars for the purpose of placing 

 btfoie the mmd \n a clear and methodical manner the various 

 degiees of relationship that exist between plants. An exhaustive 

 enumeiation in the piestnt state of botanical science embraces 

 the following twehe heads: Series or Subkingdom, Class, 

 Subcliss, Oidei oi F imih', Suborder, Tribe, Subtribe, Genus, 

 Subgenus or Section, Species, Race, and Variety. 



To aid the student of floriculture in forming a clearer con- 

 ception of the arrangement, relationship and subordination of 

 tliL dilkient membeis of this distribution, the whole vegetable kingdom might be likened 

 to the a\ ailable \\ ai foices of the United .States. The Series would correspond to the 

 military as distinct from the naval, and vice versa/ Class, to the regular army as distinct 

 from volunteers, or the reverse; Subclass, to the "Army of the Potomac," or the like; 

 Order, to army corps; Suborder to division; Tribe, to a brigade with its full complement 

 of cavalry, artillery and infantry; Subtribe, to the more usual incomplete brigade of two 

 or three regiments; Genus, to a regiment; Subgenus, to a battalion; Species, to a com- 

 panv; Race, to a company of infantry as distinct from one of cavalry; and Variety, to 

 the same companv with the shades of difference arising from the variation in numbers, 

 discipline, or any other minor feature — for instance, Company A, as differing from Com- 

 pany B in any one or several of these respects. 



In this methodical arrangement it will be noticed that the Variety, a subdivision of the 

 Species, is the lowest term, as the individual plant does not obtain an individual name. 

 The Species is designated by the name of the Genus to which it belongs, with a distin- 

 guishing epithet, usually an adjective, added to denote the peculiar characteristic (or what 

 it has been agreed to consider such) of each particular .Species. Thus in Rosa moschata, 

 or Musk Rose, Rosa represents the Genus Rose; and moschata, a Latinized version of 



411 



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