CLASSES OF THE LINNiEAN SYSTEM. 2 i 



the same country, but bears a warm climate better 

 than the apple. The Quince (Cydonia) is found 

 wild in hedges and rocky places in the south of Eu- 

 rope. The Plum (Prunus domestica) is likewise 

 indigenous to the south of Europe, but scarcely eat- 

 able in its native state. That variety called the 

 Damason, or the egg-shaped plum, was probably 

 introduced from Syria. The Peach (Jimygdalm 

 persica) is the produce of Persia. The Almond 

 occurs wild in the hedges of Morocco. The Cherry 

 (Prunus cemsas) is the product of Cerasonte ; the 

 Apricot of Armenia ; the Pomegranate (Punka gra- 

 natum) of Persia and Carthage. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EXPLANATION OF THE CLASSES OF THE LINNiEAN 

 SYSTEM. 



The difficulties, defects, and laborious investigation 

 requisite for classing plants by a natural method of 

 arrangement, render it necessary, at least for the be- 

 ginner, to chose some easier route to the knowledge 

 of plants. For this purpose artificial methods have 

 been invented, and none more successfully applied in 

 practice than that of the celebrated Linnaeus. 



His classes are founded upon the number and dis- 

 position of the stamina, and his orders often upon the 

 number of the pistils. 



In comparing a plant by this system, you first ex- 

 amine whether the flowers are complete, or furnished 

 with stamens and pistils, and in the next place, 

 whether the stamens are entirely separate from the 

 pistil, and each other, from top to bottom, or united 

 in some part or other : if they are separate, of the 



