The term genus comes from Latin. It means ‘birth’, ‘origin’, ‘sort’, or ‘type’. Genus (plural genera) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. It means a group of organisms constituting a systematic unit and uniting closely related plant species descended from a common ancestor. It is one of the eight major taxonomic ranks in biological classification of living organisms. It helps to relate a plant to other plants which share similar characteristics. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first word of a binomial scientific name and is always capitalized. It may be comprised of one or more species. Similarly, a family may consist of a single genus or more than one genera. One example of a plant genus containing many species is Rosa, which contains more than 100 species of roses. In contrast, the genus Ginkgo is monotypic, containing only the common ginkgo.
