CHAPTER IV. 



HOW PLANTS ARE CLASHIFIKO, NAMi:i>, AM) STl'DITT*. 



Section 1. -Classification. 



289. Classilipation in Hotany is th«' anaii<,'«Miu'iit of plants according to 

 their kinds, and accordin",' to their lesenildanees. 



290. In order that the ve<;etahle ei-eation might he adapted to every soil, 

 situation, and (diniate. and to the difYeient wanis of the greatest variety of 

 animals, as well as to the many pefuliai- needs of mankind, <Joil created plants 

 in a vast nnnd)er of kinds. And in ordei- that these should he perp(>tuated and 

 kept distinct. He ordained that each should yield fruit and seed " (tj'hr i/s //////." 

 So each sort of plant multiplies and perpetuates itself from geneiation to gi'ueta- 

 tifni. Kach of these sorts is a 



291. Species. Tlie individuals, or se])arate plants, of each sort I'epi-esent that 

 species, just as men and women represent the human species. 'I'he individu.als 

 of the same sjiecies are not always, or not commonly, exactly alike. They may 

 diflfer in si/.e according to their greater or less vigour; they may vary in the 

 colour of their hlossoms, or the shape and flavour of their fruit, and yet j)laiidy 

 he of one s|)ecies. It is very a})t to be so in cultivated plants, 'j'he dillerent 

 .sorts of Apples belong to one species ; all the sorts of Pears are of one species ; 

 and .so of Peaches. Such .sorts, which have arisen in the cour.se of tiiuo and 

 under change of circumstances, are called Vaijikties. 



292. Varieties maybe kept up with certainty by jjiopagjiting from buds, that 

 is. l>y cuttings, grafts, offsets, and the like (('haj). II. Sect. 1). hut not by seeds 

 — at least when left to them.selves. And \arieties ha\«^ nothing delinite about 

 them, but shade off into one another; while the spe( ies are always sej)arate. 

 Apple-trees never vary into Pear-trees, nor ]*ear-trees into t^uince-trees. The 

 cultivator pjivs much attention to varieties, and takes paiticular pains to j)re- 

 serve and multiply them. To the botani.st, who is concerned mainly with wild 

 plants, they are of much less account. The botanist studies tqiecies. 



293. According to their degrees of re.semblance species form Genera, Orders 

 or Fa I nil i en, and Classes. 



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