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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Galaxies, like plants, show a large variety of grafts: an individual of some type connects physically with a neighborhood of same or different type. The effects of these interactions between galaxies have a broad range of morphologies depending, among other quantities, on the distance of the closest approach between systems and the relative size of the two galaxies. A sketch of the possible situations is shown in Table 1. This ‘botanical’ classification is just indicative, because the effects of interactions can be notable also at relatively large separations, when additional conditions are met: as for example low density of the interacting systems or the presence of intra-cluster gas. In spite of the large variety of encounters and effects, in the literature the same terms are often used to refer to different types of interactions.