Each tree has one valid scientific name and the most abundant or outstanding trees have one or more common or everyday names.  These common names vary from place to place and the

same name is frequently used for more than one species.  The common names are the approved common names, which have been selected by

the U.S. Forest Service to reduce confusion.  The scientific names are those now in us by the Forest Service.

A scientific name is composed of three parts:  1) the genus or generic name, equal to our surname; 2) the species name, equal to our given name; 3) and the name or abbreviation of the name of the author of the combination.  For example, in the name "Quercus alba L." (White Oak), Quercus is the surname, alba is the given name, and L. is the abbreviation for Linnaeus, the person whom first used this combination.  The author's name is a part of the scientific name, although it is common practice to omit it under most references.  The genus name is always capitalized and the species name is always in lower case letters.

Species: A category of biological classification; a class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name.  "Species" is always properly used with the "s" when referring to trees or other biological classification; specie (singular) refers only to money in coin.