THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 29 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



The many millions of human beings in the world may be 

 arranged in classes or great families. Sometimes the basis of 

 classification is their color ; thus we have the white race, the 

 black race, ,the red race, etc. The white race, also, may 

 be divided in various ways. For instance, we speak of 

 the English-speaking people, the French people, the German 

 people, etc. The Indians are divided into tribes. These 

 classifications are based on color, height, form of body, language, 

 and certain habits or characteristics. In a similar manner it is 

 advisable to arrange the great plant world into groups or 

 classes all those somewhat alike in one class, all others some- 

 what alike in another class, and so on. To these various 

 classes names must be given. These names are what we call 

 the scientific or botanical names. They are not always much 

 like our common names of plants. The common names may 

 vary in different places, but the botanical names must be the 

 same the world over. The botanical names are not so familiar 

 to us as the common names, hence they appear to be very 

 difficult ; but in studying plants, in naming them, and in re- 

 ferring to text books on botany, it is necessary to become 

 more or less familiar with them. 



How are we to study a plant, to describe it, to know the 

 plant referred to in any botanical work ? How are we to 

 identify any plant ? There are the four parts the roots, the 

 stem, the leaves and the blossoms. The leaves really include 

 those parts which we call the blossoms or flowers, as these are 

 made up of changed leaves ; but for the present we may say 



