Carl Linnaeus it was who consistently gave organisms a binomial 

name, much as you and I have a first and last name. 

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Therefore, once the genus has been identified, the next step 
is to find the species, referred to as a 

specific epithet

. In 

essence, this epithet modifies the genus name. When asked 
for the name of a plant, therefore, you need to give the genus 
name and specific epithet

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Specific epithets are recognized by the fact that they always 
follow a genus name, they’re not capitalized, but they are 
italicized or underlined