V. DIRECTIONS TO THE STUDENT. 



Having acquired a general knowledge of the principles of botany, and of the 

 meaning of the peculiar terms employed in the science, the student proceeds to 

 study or analyze plants, with a view to determine their names, and the place they 

 occupy in the system. 



His chief difficulty, at the outset, will be to ascertain to which one of the 164 

 natural orders or families contained in this work the plant he may have in hand 

 belongs. Were he to attempt to compai'C it with the characters of each order 

 successively, the task would be tedious and discouraging. 



To obviate this, and to enable him to refer any unknown plant directly to its 

 proper place in the Flora, some guide, sucli as is supplied by the following An- 

 alysis of the Natural Orders, will be necessary. One or two examples will best 

 explain its use. 



Suppose we have in hand a flowering branch of the Linden-Tree or Bass- 

 wood. Turning to the Analysis on page xxix., we compare it, first, with tiie 

 Series of Ph^enogamous Plants, with which we find it to agree in having 

 flowers. 



Then, dividing the branch across, we see if it is made up of pith, wood, and 

 bark ; if the leaves are netted-veined ; and if the floral envelopes are in fours 

 or fives. Exhibiting these peculiarities, it doubtless belongs to the Class of 

 Dicotyledonous Plants ; although, in consequence of the minuteness of the 

 seed, we have not been able to ascertain the number of the cotyledons. 



We next see if the ovules are contained in an ovary. This being clearly the 

 case, it comes under the Subclass of Angiospekmous Plants. The double 

 floral em'elopes, and the separate petals of the corolla, carry it to the Polypet- 

 ALOus Division. 



Our attention is next directed to the insertion of the stamens and petals, — 

 whether on the calyx, or hypogynous. In our plant they are hypogynous. 

 Then, if the stamens are more than twice as many as the petals. They are so 

 in ours. Then, if the leaves are opposite or alternate. In ours they are alter- 

 nate. Then, if the ovaries are more than one, or solitary and 1-ceIled, or soli- 

 tary and 2 - many-celled. In ours they are solitary and 5-celIed ; bringing it 

 under the last alternative. Then, if the stamens are in any way connected 



