THE CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS 



2139 



importance appeared till Elias Fries (Fig. 2059) completed his " Systema 

 Mycologicum " between 1821 and 1829. This work was a full account of all 

 the Fungi known to that date and provided a complete classification of the 

 species. His w^ork is taken as the starting-point for nomenclature of all the 

 groups of Fungi not accepted from Persoon's work. 



The work of Persoon and Fries offered a natural method of classification 

 of the Fungi during the earliest part of the nineteenth centur}% indeed Fries 

 expressly sought a natural system, so that the classification of the Fungi was 

 decidedly in advance of the Algae at the same period. In 1837 the French 

 botanist Leveille recognized the Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes as two 

 main groups and thus signposted the way for future work. 



Fig. 2059. — Elias Fries. From Dorffler, 

 " Botaniker Portriits ". 



Fig. 2060. — Anton de Bar\'. 



In the years that followed micro-fungi were subjected to increasingly 

 critical study. The work of the brothers Tulasne and of de Bary, the latter 

 particularly, on the Smuts and the Mildews opened up a host of new 

 problems, and with the discovery of many new species led to a reconsidera- 

 tion of classification. De Bary's (Fig. 2060) classical work on the Smuts 

 (1853) and his more general work, " The Comparative Morphology and 

 Biology of the Fungi", published in 1866, presented many new obser- 

 vations, including the discovery of heteroecism, and was the first work to 

 recognize the Phycomycetes as a distinct class. 



The year 1882 saw the publication of the first volume of Saccardo's 

 " Sylloge Fungorum Omnium Hucusque Cognitorum", which was carried 

 on by a succession of collaborators almost up to the present time. The 

 counterpart of de Toni's " Sylloge Algarum", its value lies in the precise 

 description of species rather than in the method of classification. 



With the growth of the subject monographical works began to appear 



