36 PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION. 



cotyledonous, or monocotyledonous, and naturally 

 range with their allies in other parts of the System. 



93. Mr. Robert Brown, who has greatly illustrated 

 the System of Jussieu, and the Natural Orders of 

 Plants, has shown that in the Monocotyledones the 

 number three, and its compounds, prevail in the 

 several parts of fructification, insomuch that in 

 Orders furnished with only one evident and per- 

 fect Stamen, there are rudiments of 2 others. So 

 in the Orchis tribe, as I understand it at least, 

 while there are 3 Calyx-leaves, the 2 Petals (55) 

 and the solitary Nectary (57) make up the same 

 number in the Corolla, fig. 70, 77. 



94. In Dicotyledones the number five no less remark- 

 ably prevails, throughout the great bulk of the 

 Vegetable kingdom, as is evident on the slight- 

 est inspection. 



95. Jussieu and his followers attribute a Calyx only, 

 no Corolla, to Monocotyledonous plants, however 

 conspicuous, coloured, elaborate, or compound the 

 integuments of the Flower (53, 54) may be. This 

 proves most flagrantly paradoxical in the natural 

 Order of Scitaminece, fig. 1 ; and it is evidently 

 absurd that we must wait to name the obvious 

 parts of a flower, till we have investigated the 

 structure or germination of its seed. We allow 

 indeed that the difficulty is lessened, though not 

 infallibly removed, by Mr. Brown's rule respect- 

 ing numbers (93, 94). 



