Below is a copy of part of a letter I wrote to a friend one night when I was very tired and in a hurry to get to bed (like tonight). Maybe it will be somewhere to start to learn about proper classification and nomenclature for plants. What follows is part of that letter:

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Latin botanical names are really easy but it may take me quite a few words to explain it.

All living organisms can be classified into the following catagories:

* Domain - Eukaryote [ organism whose cells are organized into complex structures by internal membranes and a cytoskeleton ]

** Kingdom - Plantae [ plant ]

*** Division (or Phylum) - Magnoliophyta [ angiosperm ]

**** Class - Magnoliopsida [ dicot ]

***** Order - Malvales [ long complicated definition ]

****** Family - Malvaceae [ long complicated definition ]

******* Genus - Hibiscus [ Hibiscus ]

******** Species - syriacus [ specific species of Hybiscus (called Hybiscus syriacus) at least partially characterized by woody stems and hardy to zone 5 ]

Examples of other classifications that are sometimes used are:

* Subkingdom - a division of kingdom containing multiple divisions.

* Superclass - a group of classes containing a portion or the classes

found in a particular division.

* Subspecies - a group of same-species organisims that share a particular trait or group of traits not found in all of the members of the species. Usually synonomous with variety. (Denoted by "Genus species spp. subspecies")

* Variety - a group of same-species organisims that share a particular trait or group of traits not found in all of the members of the species. May be brought about by isolation from the rest of the members of the species. (Denoted by "Genus species v. variety")

* Cultivar - cultivated variety. Cultivars often, BUT NOT ALWAYS, originate from a single specimen and are propogated assexually by gardeners. (Denoted by "Genus species 'Cultivar' ". Note cultivar name is capitalized.)

* Forma - a group of same-species organisims that sporadically and randomly share a common characteristic not shared by all members of the species. Even assexually propogated offspring might not have the trait.

* Graft Chimera - plant derived from the physical joining on a cellular level of two different plants. (Denoted by "+ Newgenus newspecies".)

* Intergeneric Hybrid - hybrid between two genera. (Denoted by "X Newgenus newspecies". Note capitalized X in front of newgenus.)

* Interspecific Hybrid - hybrid between two species. (Denoted by "Genus x newspecies". Note lower case x between genus and newspecies.)

* Intraspecific Hybrid - hybrid between two organisims in the same species. (Denoted by "Genus x species 'Cultivar' ". Note lower case x between genus and species followed by cultivar name.

All species of organisms can be denoted by using their binomial nomenclature name as follows:

"Genus species"

Note that many species in different genuses may have the same species name (ex. japonica, grandiflora, tomentosa, or decidua), but no two genuses share the same name. By using both names, a specific species can be specified. The genus name is always capitalized, and the species name should always be lower case.

Wow, what a mess that was. LOL. I hope I didn't make a lot of mistakes and leave important stuff out. I tried to make it as straight forward as possible. The definitions were off the top of my head, so don't count on them to be 100% correct. If there is any doubt, verify what I said before taking it as absolutely correct.

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