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A virologist discusses the subject here: http://www.microb...sification. See also http://en.wikiped...sification.

Plant viruses get non-Latin names like "tobacco mosaic virus." Animal viruses are assigned a Latin family and genus. Above and below that level classification diverges from zoological nomenclature.

Plants, like viruses and bacteria, have a large amount of horizontal gene transfer and commonly propagate asexually. They still have binomial names.