GLOSSARY

Border Species: species living near, sometimes crossing borders between two geographical regions.

 

Clade: botanical equivalent to class; 4th highest taxonomic rank.

 

Concladic Clade: clade able to create a concladic order pair.

 

Concladic Order: two or more orders located in different regions (CN/EU/NA) belonging to the same clade.

 

Condivisional Clade: two or more clades located in different regions (CN/EU/NA)  belonging to the same division.

 

Condivisional Division: division able to create a condivisional clade pair.

 

Confamilial Family: family able to create a confamilial genera pair.

 

Confamilial Genera: two or more genera located in different regions (CN/EU/NA) belonging to the same family.

 

Congeneric Genera: genera able to create a congeneric species pair.

 

Congeneric Species: two or more species located in different regions (CN/EU/NA) belonging to the same genus.

 

Conordinial Family: two or more families located in different regions (CN/EU/NA)  belonging to the same order.

 

Conordinial Order: order able to create a conordinial family pair.

 

Cosmopolitan Species: species found in all (or almost all) regions of the world; pandemic.

 

Division: botanical term for phylum; 3rd-highest taxonomic rank.

 

Domain: highest taxonomic rank; first divisions made to entire tree of life.

 

Endemic: found exclusively in a particular region or location.

 

Family: 6th-highest taxonomic rank.

 

Genus: 2nd-lowest taxonomic rank.

 

Native: organism indigenous to a region, or naturalized to a region over time.

 

Non-native organism: non-indigenous to a region.

 

Order: 5th-highest taxonomic rank.

 

Pandemic: found all over the planet.

 

Phylogenetics: study of evolutionary relationships between groups of organisms.

 

Phylogeny: evolutionary history/development of a group of organisms taken from any taxonomic rank.

 

Phyloset: groups of taxa across multiple taxonomic levels in which at least a 2 of a kind subset can be created.

 

Plant: any photosynthetic, eukaryotic, multicellular organism that is immobile, contains chloroplasts, and has cellulose cell walls.

 

Range: distribution of a species; geographical area in which it can be located.

 

Royal Flush: subset of condivisional clades in which there is a native species and at least one non-native species in different regions (EU/CN/NA); the clades in question should be able to form a straight flush subset with one another using their associated orders, which should in turn be able to form 4 of a kind subsets with their associated families, and so forth.

 

Shared Species: species found in multiple (or all) geographical regions.

 

Species: lowest taxonomic rank; individuals with similar traits and features, capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring.

 

Straight Flush: subset of concladic orders in which there is a native species and at least one non-native species in different regions (EU/CN/NA); the orders in question should be able to form a 4 of a kind subset with one another using their associated families, which should in turn be able to form a 3 of a kind subset, and so forth.

 

Subspecies: taxonomic rank subordinate to species; can interbreed with other subspecies of the same species, but do so rarely due to geographical isolation.

 

Super Division: botanical equivalent to kingdom; 2nd-highest taxonomic rank.

 

Systematics: study of the diversification of organisms/their relationships over time.

 

Taxon: groups created through taxonomic ranking.

 

Taxonomic Rank: relative position in the taxonomical hierarchy, descending from domain, kingdom/super division, phylum/division, class/clade, order, family, genus, species; conditions on what constitutes each rank varies from individual taxonomists.

 

Taxonomy: academic discipline of organizing and defining groups of organisms on the basis of their relatedness; ranks are given to groups based on level of relatedness, creating a hierarchy of groups.

 

Tree: any plant with a permanently woody stem (trunk), growing up to considerable (yet greatly varying) heights, usually with lateral outgrowing branches some distance from the ground.

 

2 of a Kind: subset of congeneric species in which there is a native species and at least one non-native species in different regions (EU/CN/NA).

 

3 of a Kind: subset of confamilial genera in which there is a native species and at least one non-native species in different regions (EU/CN/NA); the genera in question should also be able to form a 2 of a kind subset with one another using their associated species.

 

4 of a Kind: subset of conordinial families in which there is a native species and at least one non-native species in different regions (EU/CN/NA); the families in question should be able to form a 3 of a kind subset with one another using their associated genera, which should in turn be able to form a 2 of a kind subset.