172 CLASSIFICATION 



GENERIC and the second part specific. Two or more 

 species belonging to the same genus have, of course, 

 the same generic name, as, for example, ata and nona 

 belong to the same genus, Anona, and are named 

 Anona squamosa a.nd Anona reticulata respectively, 

 the specific parts of the names — squamosa and reticu- 

 lata respectively — indicating the two different species 

 to which they belong. Similarly, bat, aswathwa, and 

 dumur are the three species of one and the same 

 genus Ficus, and are named Ficus bengalensis, F. 

 religiosa, and F. hispida respectively. 



This system of naming plants is known as the 

 Binomial Nomenclature, because each name is made 

 up of two parts, the first part generic and the second 

 part specific. To take an illustration from the science 

 of chemistry, which has also a similar nomenclature. 

 Thus potassium sulphate, sodium sulphate, and cal- 

 cium sulphate are three different substances (salts), all 

 of which belong to the same genus, sulphate, and 

 are distinguished from one another by the specific 

 names of potassium, sodium, and calcium respec- 

 tively. Similarly, in almost all civilized societies 

 human beings have binomial names. Thus Romes 

 Chatterji and Pares Chatterji are two individuals who 

 belong to the same family or genus, Chatterji, and are 

 distinguished from each other by the individual or 

 specific names, namely, Romes and Pares respec- 

 tively. In these latter illustrations the order of placing 

 the two parts of the name is the reverse of that which 

 is followed in plants. 



Since the same plants have often been described 

 under different names by different botanists, and also 

 different plants have often been designated by the 

 same name, it is necessary, for the purpose of avoiding 

 confusion, to append to the name of the plant the 



