192 
NATURAL SYSTEM FOR THE CLASSIFICA 
TION OF PLANTS. 
676. The other mode of arranging plants is called the Na- 
tural System, or Method of Natural Families—It is the only 
system entitled to the name ofa Cuasstrication. The prin- 
ciples of this system were first developed in 1789, in a work 
entitled Genera Plantarum, by a celebrated French Botanist, 
Antoine Laurent DE Jussiev. . 
677. In this arrangement those plants are grouped toge 
ther which have the greatest number of points of resemblance 
in structure—the greatest number of characters in commons 
thus differing from the Linnean or Artificial System, which 
selects only one character, and groups together plants which 
are similar in that point, however dissimilar in other respects. 
An example will best explain the difference. ; 
678. Sage (Salvia) evidently belongs to the Labiate tribe. 
It has all the characters which distinguish that tribe except 
one. It has the corolla of one piece and with a gaping mouth, 
the calyx two-lipped, the seeds four, the leaves opposite and 
corrugated, the stem quadrangular, and the plant presents the 
same aromatic properties which characterise the Labiate 
tribe. For these reasons, in a system where plants are at 
__- yanged according to their natural affinities, Sage is included 
in the order Labiate. But it has only two stamens, while the 
generality of the Labiate have four ; therefore, in the Lin- 
 ngan system, where the situation of plants is determined by 
_ that one character, the number of the stamens—Sage is 
placed in Dranprta, far removed from its allies, the rest of 
the Labiate in Dioywamra, and classed, and in the same oF- 
