What is a plant genus and species?
An easy way to remember these terms is to note that genus refers to the “generic” name, and species refers to the “specific” name. A genus is a group of related plants. The species name is the basic unit of classification. It describes one kind of plant within the genus, and is almost always an adjective.
What is the genus of a plant?
Carlquistia
Plant/Genus
How many genus does a plant have?
There are 57 genera of flowering plants estimated to contain at least 500 described species. The largest of these is currently the legume genus Astragalus (milk-vetches), with over 3,000 species.
What’s a plant species?
The phrase plant species or species refers to the second part of a plant’s botanical name. Using the analogy of a person’s name – their surname and forename – and relating it to the genus name and species name often helps to explain the use of these Latin plant names and makes it clearer to understand.
Is the word genus capitalized?
The genus name is the first word of a binomial scientific name (the species name is the second word) and is always capitalized. One example of a plant genus containing many species is Rosa, which contains more than 100 species of roses.
What are plant species examples?
Here are examples of plant species with their common name listed first:
- Allegheny Mountain buttercup – Ranunculus allegheniensis.
- Alpine Avens – Geum montanum.
- Baby rose – Rosa multiflora.
- Black Alder – Alnus glutinosa.
- Blue Oak – Quercus douglasii.
- Canada Thistle – Cirsium arvense.
- Deadly Nightshade – Solanum nigrum.
How do you write genus?
The scientific names of species are italicized. The genus name is always capitalized and is written first; the specific epithet follows the genus name and is not capitalized. There is no exception to this.