11 



To distinguish the Genera or families of Plants, 

 which have their foundation in nature, and which 

 Linnaeus calls his natural characters, he takes from 

 all the seven parts of fructification already enume- 

 rated, and from no other. 5 Those of the species, 

 from all the other parts, as the root, trunk, leaf, 

 buds, and habit ; an 1 even from some circum- 

 stances attending the parts of fructification if they 

 do not enter into the character of the genus or 

 Class. 



To prevent the Stamen and Pistillum in Plate 1, 

 from being considered as their common character and 

 appearance in all flowers, rather than as an illustra- 

 tion of those parts, I have added two other Plates 

 containing Stamina and Pistilla from various plants, 

 upon an enlarged scale, to shew the variety that may 

 be expected to occur in the progress of investigation. 



Many experiments have been made to ascertain 

 the importance of the Stamina and Pistilla to the pro- 

 duction and ripening perfect seed. In the middle of 

 the last century, in a hot house at Berlin, there was a 

 Date Palm which blossomed very luxuriantly every 



lived in Rome in the age of Nero, who ceased to reign 

 A.D. 63. 



g Linnaeus defines the parts of fructification to be— -" the 

 temporary parts of vegetables destined for the reproduction of 

 the species, terminating the old individual and beginning the 

 new," This definition, though applicable to herbaceous plants, 

 cannot with equal propriety be extended to trees. 



