Species

Species

Importantly, Aristotle observed that a particular characteristic of a Species may not be common to the entire Genus of which it is a part. By definition, a Species can only reproduce with others of the same Species. Species are historically given Latin names shown in italics which are indicative of a distinguishing feature. Species are organized or "classified" by grouping plants together which share similar characteristics. Groups of similar species are called a Genus. To avoid confusion with similarly named species, a particular species is always called by the combined Genus species name but only the Genus is capitalized, such as Acer saccharum or Sugar Maple. In this case, the Genus is Acer or Maple, whereas the species is saccharum meaning sugar. Species in the same genus are quite closely related, like the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) and the Red Maple (Acer rubrum) which are both in the genus Acer. [CH] {NR}