Natural 

 Order, and 

 Class. 



Principal 

 Natural 

 Groups 

 of Plants. 



122 



known as a synonym. Thus Rhus Wallichii Hook f. syn R. 

 vernicifera Brandis means that the plant, the correct name of 

 which is considered to be R. Wallichii given by J. D. 

 Hooker, is the same as that which had been also named 

 R. vernicifera by Sir Dietrich Brandis. The author, whose 

 name, or abbreviated name, is attached to each species, is the 

 person who first put the plant into the correct genus and who 

 therefore is not necessarily the person who was the first to 

 describe the plant or to give it a name. 



Just as species are combined into genera, so are a number 

 of genera which closely resemble one another in their impor- 

 tant morphological characters combined into larger groups 

 known as NATURAL ORDERS, and the latter are similarly 

 combined into still higher groups termed CLASSES. 



109. The principal groups of 



plants therefore which are the most frequently met with, and 

 which form the groundwork of all systems of classification 

 are as follows, commencing with the largest : 



Class 

 Order 

 Genus 

 Species 

 Variety 



These groups, however, are not sufficient to indicate all 

 the degrees of resemblance which are found to exist, and hence 

 they are often sub -divided, while additional groups are also, 

 if necessary, created. The following is a list of the names 

 most frequently employed for such sub-divisions of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, given in sequence commencing with the 

 largest. It must, however, be noted that several of these 

 terms have been applied to groups of somewhat different value 

 by different botanists : 



Sub -Kingdom 

 Division 



Class . 



Sub-class 

 Series 

 Cohort 

 Order* 

 Sub -order 



* According to the Rules adopted by the International Botanical Congress, 

 held at Vienna in 1905, the groups usually known hitherto in English literature 

 as cohort and order respectively should be designated order and family. 



