THE GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF HIOHER PLANTS. 



HENRY S. CONARD. 



A. large part of nin- thinking abont living things is bound up 

 with some system of elassifieaticn. This system is at once the 

 Itroduet of the liest thought, and a guide to further thinking. 

 The function of classification as a guide is peculiarly important 

 to beginners.. It is therefore extremeh^ desirable that classifica- 

 tion should represent correctly tlie most approved conclusions 

 of the science in question. At the present time current us.ige 

 in botanical classification is not in harmony with the most ap- 

 proved conclusions. The following tabulatioji and discussion is 

 an attempt to expre^ss recent morphological thought in its bear- 

 ing on the broader lines of taxonomy. According to this view, 

 the Vegetable Kingdom may be outlined thus: 

 Thallophyta 



Einl3ryophy ta ( Archegoniata^) 

 Atracheata (Bryophyta) 

 Tracheata (Vasculares) 



Lycopsida (Lyeopodiales and E(piisetales) 

 Pteropsida * 



Aspermae ( Filices ) 

 Gymnosperniaj 

 Angiospermse 

 In defense of this, scheme, the best of authority can be cited, 

 and it appears to the writer that the evidence is overwhelminuly 

 favorable. That the Thallophyta is a miscellaneous group, 

 united only by negative characters, is freely admitted. The term 

 has, however, proven so useful as to deserve permanent ac- 

 ceptance. It serves to guther up all those elementary forms of 

 plant life which are clearly lower than the fairly coherent arche- 

 uoniate or embryophytic series. This twofold arrangement. 

 ThallGi)hyta and higher plants, has long been familiar in the 

 taxonomic portion of the Strasburger text-book. 



By including all of the mosses, ferns and fiowering plants in 

 the single group Embrv^ophyta, we call attention to the embryo 

 as the feature of their life history which has doubtless been of 

 prime importance in bringing about the very obvious supremacy 

 of this group on the face of the earth. The careful sheltering 

 Ox an embryo plant within parental tissues is a distinct advantage 

 to the new generation. It is precisely ]iaralle)led in the develop- 



