PART III. 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



148. All individuals Avhich very closely resemble each 

 other in every particular (as regards the stem, leaves, 

 flowers, fruit, etc.), or are so nearly alike that they may 

 without hesitancy be referred to an immediate common 

 parentage, constitute what botanists call a species. Thus 

 all the Eed Clover plants are — unless subjected to some 

 abnormal or peculiar influences — sq nearly alike that a 

 minute description, or an exact figure of any one, would be 

 an accurate account or representation of any other indi- 

 vidual ; the same may be said of the individual White 

 Oaks, Locusts, Dogwoods, ilay- Apples, Dandelions, or any 

 other plants; each of these, therefore, is a separate species. 

 That individuals of different species occasionly pass, by a 

 series of immediate forms, into one another cannot be 

 denied. The large majority of species now existing, how- 

 ever, are well marked ; and though closely related to some 

 others, their characters appear constant, and they do not 

 perceptibly tend to vary into each other. 



149. The seeds of any species of plants will, when sown, 

 produce individuals exactly, or approximately, like the 

 adult. The same is true for all succeeding generations, so 

 far as is known by actual experiment or observation. It 

 sometimes happens, however, that certain individuals differ 



(117) 



