GE'NUS, n. plu. genuses or genera. [L. genus. See Gender.] 1. In logic, that which has several species under it; a class of a greater extent than species; a universal which is predicable of several things of different species.2. In natural history, an assemblage of species possessing certain characters in common, by which they are distinguished from all others. It is subordinate to class and order,and some arrangements, to tribe and family. A single species, possessing certain peculiar characters,which belong to no other species, may also constitute a genus; as the camelopard,and the flamingo.3. In botany, a genus is a subdivision containing plants of the same class and order, which agree in their parts of fructification.
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