10 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. [SECTION 1. 



5 Tlir ' !e kingdom is so vast ;nid various, and tlic difference is 



BO will.- between ordinary trees, shrubs, and herbs on the one hand, and 

 mosses, moulds, and such like on the other, that it is hardly possible to 

 frame an intelligible ueeount of plants as a whole without contradictions 

 <.r misstatements, or endless and troublesome fjinlilieations. If we say 

 that plant> come from seeds, bear (lowers, and have roots, stems, and 

 leaves, this is not true of the lower orders. It is best for the beginner, 

 therefore, to treat of the higher orders of plants by themselves, without 

 particular reference to the lower. 



6. Let it be understood, accordingly, that there is a higher and a lower 

 series of plants ; namely -. 



PIIANEKOGAMOI s I'l . \NTs, which come from seed and bear JJowers, es- 

 sentially stamens and pistils, through the co-operation of which seed is 

 produced. For shortness, these are commonly called PHANEROGAMS, or 

 Pheenof/iunx, or by the equivalent English name of FLU\VI-:RING PLANTS. 1 



CRTPTOGAMOUS PLANTS, or CRYPTOGAMS, come from minute bodies, which 

 answer to seeds, but are of much simpler strueiure, and such plants have 

 not stamens and pistils. Therefore they are called in English FLO \VKRLESS 

 PLANTS. Such are Ferns, Mosses, Algae or Seaweeds, Fungi, etc. These 

 sorts have each to be studied separately, for each class or order has a plan 

 of its own. 



7. But Phanerogamous, or Flowering, Plants arc all constructed on one 

 plan, or type. That is, taking almost any ordinary herb, shrub, or tree for 

 a pattern, it will exemplify the whole scries: the parts of one plant an>\\.-r 

 to the parts of any other, with only certain dill'.-ivnecs in particulars. And 

 the occupation and the delight of the scientilic botanist is in tracing out 

 this common plan, in detecting the likenesses under all the diversities, and 

 in noting the meaning of these manifold diversities. So the attentive study 

 of any one plant, from its ^rowlli out of the seed to the flowering and 

 fruiting slate and the production of seed like to that from which the plant- 

 grew, would not only give a correct general idea of the structure, growth, 

 and characteristics of Flowering Plants in general, but also serve as a pat- 

 tern or standard of comparison. Some plants will ser\e this purpose of a 

 pattern much better than others. A proper pattern will be one that is 

 perfect in the sense of having all the principal parts of a phanerogamous 

 plant, and simple ami regular in having these parts free from complications 

 or disguises. The common Flax-plant, may \er\ well serve this purpo-e. 

 I'.emg an annual, it has the advantage of being easily raised and carried 

 in a short ti'ne through its circle of existence, from seedling to fruit and 

 seed. 



ii,-iiiii- 1^ sniiirtiiiifs Phanerogamous, somrtiim-s Vlnrnor/amotts (Phanero- 

 x, or PAanogams) , terms of tin- samr meaning etymologically ; the former of 

 pirlVr.-ihli' form, but tin- latter shorter. The meaning of such terms is explained 

 in the Glossary. 



