Rob Hamadi writes
On Feb 25, 1:29 pm, Stewart Robert Hinsley
wrote:
In message .com, Rob
Hamadi writes

So Rosaceae (the family) is distinct from Rosa (the genus)? I live and
learn. Would I be correct in saying that Rosa is a subset of Rosaceae?
--

Yes. The genus Rosa is part or all [1] of the tribe Roseae which is part
of subfamily Rosoideae which is part of family Rosaceae.Rob

[1] It seems to be a matter of taste among botanists as to whether to
break off a few fragments of Rosa as separate genera or not.

Thanks. It seems to me from what you've explained that it's just* a
matter of learning the "grammar" of the classification system, then
expanding one's vocabulary. The fact that many of the words are Latin
is, to some extent, a red herring.

Speaking as an amateur, start by learning about families and genera.
It's made easier by families being given names ending with 'aceae' - so
Rosa is the genus, Rosaceae the family (which includes other genera such
as Malus (apples), Pyrus (pears), Sorbus - rowans and whitebeams)

Carrots, parsnips, fennel, dill, parsley are all in the umbellifer
family, which appears now to be called Apiaceae. Many of our other herbs
- mint, marjoram, oregano, savory - are Lamiaceae, named after the genus
Lamium which includes the silver leaved dead nettle used as a ground
cover in gardens.

The system is based on the flowers, since they are the bit that enables
sexual reproduction and therefore govern the ancestral 'tree' of the
plant in question. It's encouraged me to look closer at plants - for
example finding that Cyclamen is in the primrose family and seeing that
there is a real similarity in their flower structure. Conversely, it's
made plant identification so much easier. With wild plants it's
relatively easy to look at a plant and know immediately which family it
belongs to. A bit more difficult with garden plants, as we grow the odd
representative of a great many families which aren't necessarily
represented among the wild UK plants, but it's still a whole lot easier
than leafing through an encyclopaedia of garden plants looking at all
the white flowers ...


--
Kay