Ixxxiv CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. 



as students), we may fairly say with Lindley (Synopsis, ed. 1, ix.) 

 that " our daily experience shews that excessive analysis is far 

 preferable to excessive synthesis." 



As has been remarked, it is quite apparent that there are very 

 many more forms of plants that are continued by seed than we have 

 been accustomed to believe ; and that we must give up the favourite 

 idea that those are distinct species which are easily and fully 

 reproducible by seed. We must also give up the once prevalent 

 view that a single marked character may always be depended upon 

 as the mark of a species. After much study we learn how difficult 

 it is to define almost any one of the recognised species, so as to 

 include all its possible forms, and so as to separate it clearly from 

 all possible forms of allied plants. 



In this book I do not pretend to have entered into that difficult 

 subject with the elaborate detail which has been so well carried out 

 by Dr. Focke ; but I have done so rather more than is usual with 

 other rubologists. Neither have I attempted to form an analytical 

 table such as that of Genevier; for I have not found even that, 

 with all its excellence, to be a true and certain guide. And if not 

 so, an analytical table is very liable to lead us astray. As I have 

 said in my Manual of British Botany, such a Synopsis "must be 

 used with caution, as a very slight error will totally mislead." 



We are accustomed, and perhaps advisedly, to look for such 

 distinctive marks as are afforded by the direction of the stem : 

 (1) either quite or nearly upright; (2) more or less highly arching, 

 but turning down at the end in the autumn so as to reach the soil, 

 and then penetrating into it and throwing out roots, and thus 

 forming a new centre for the growth of the following year ; (3) or 

 rising with a very small arch and then becoming prostrate, and 

 often following the inequalities of the ground with singular exact- 

 ness for a considerable distance, but in the late autumn again 

 forming a small arch so as to present its growing point directly 

 towards the earth and penetrating into it, and rooting there as in 

 the former case. It often happens that these naturally prostrate 

 plants rise to a considerable height by being supported by the 

 neighbouring shrubs ; and in such a case they treat the top of a 

 hedge as if it was the surface of the ground, and run along it for a 

 considerable extent ; in such cases the end frequently is not able to 

 reach the earth before being killed by the cold of winter : for this 

 condition I have with Focke used the term scandent. 



The form of the terminal leaflet has been justly much trusted by 

 us. The form and character of the panicle, or rather inflorescence, 

 and direction of the sepals require much attention. 



Until recently we have in this country systematically neglected 

 the valuable characters which appear to be afforded by the colour 

 of the different parts of the flower, and their relative proportions 

 and direction. We had been taught to consider such points as 

 undeserving of attention, from being too variable to be of any use. 



