4 PREAMBLE. 



inconspicuous microscopical characters into the 

 seeds and pollen ; which belong to Anatomical 

 Botany, rather than descriptive Botany, being 

 quite useless in practice. This absurdity is too 

 prevailing at present, it is as wrong as if we 

 were to make the Genera of Birds upon their 

 Eggs! instead of their bills and feet. Some 

 modern Ornithologists led astray by the same 

 anxious wish to find distinguishing marks, have 

 made Generic distinctions upon the tails and 

 feathers of birds, which answer exactly to the 

 blunder of Lindley about his Lowea, 



They appear to have forgotten that the dif- 

 ferent habit, leaves and infloresccKce of plants, 

 when they are outward indications of Genera, 

 have corresponding essential characters in the 

 flowers to be sought for and on which the Genus 

 is to be based, as Jussieu did explain long ago. 

 Thus in Lowea there are some partial charac- 

 ters in the flowers somewhat different from 

 Rosa ! which Lindley neglected to seek, and 

 I shall describe ; but they merely indicate a Sub 

 Genus, not a Genus; else all the Sub Genera 

 of Decandole are Genera. 



Meantime I shall probably adopt all the 

 Genera of Spach, or any other, when properly 

 known to me, as based on permanent characters 

 of the fructification. Lindley will only admit 

 of Godetia because it has fringed seeds (always 

 the seeds for him ;) but I know already that 

 most of the other Genera out of Oenothera are 

 good, Boisduvalia is very distinct by unequal 

 stamens, even Brebissonia is good. The 

 Oenotheras with capitate or 4partite stigma, 

 w^inged capsules, bifid calix, must certainly form 

 peculiar Genera, and my 3 Genera Onosuris, 

 Pleurandria and Chamerium established in 



