taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

is split off from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off. A segregate will be either new or ephemeral: there is a tendency for taxonomists to disagree on segregates, and later workers often reunite a segregate with the 'mother' taxon. If a segregate is generally accepted as a 'good' taxon it ceases to be a segregate. Thus, this is a way of indicating change in the taxonomic status. It should not be confused with, for example, the subdivision of a genus into

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

. :For example, the genus '' Alsobia'' is a ''segregate'' from the genus '' Episcia''; The genera ''

Filipendula ''Filipendula'' is a genus of 12 species of perennial plant, perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-known species include meadowsweet (''Filipendula ulmaria' ...

'' and ''

Aruncus ''Aruncus'' is a genus of clump-forming herbaceous perennial plants in the family Rosaceae. Botanical opinion of the number of species differs, with from one to four species accepted. They are closely related to the genera ''Filipendula'' and ' ...

'' are segregates from the genus '' Spiraea''.

References

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A more detailed explanation
with multiple examples on

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s. Botanical nomenclature Plant taxonomy Taxonomy (biology)