52 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



plants belong to the Phanerogams or Spermatophytes, 

 being seed-plants. These are again divided into 

 suhphyla, as (i) Gymnosperms, or seed plants with 

 naked ovules, and (2) Angiosperms with ovules 

 enclosed in an ovary or fruit-wall. 



In the selection of the characters that serve to 

 mark off plants into groups, or their arrangement 

 according to the affinities which they may be assumed 

 to possess in common with others, distinction must 

 be made between a purely artificial system and a 

 natural system. By the former method the earlier 

 botanists were led to arrange plants at first into such 

 groups as Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs. These divisions 

 are based entirely upon habit. All trees do not belong 

 to the same natural order and although a large pro- 

 portion are Angiospermous Flowering plants, some 

 are not^ such as Gymnosperms, e. g. Yew, Pine, etc. 

 Whilst, again, many are dicotyledonous, some e.g. 

 Palms are monocotyledonous. In the case of Dicoty- 

 ledons again whilst a large number are members of 

 the Amentiferae there are many other groups of trees, 

 as those of the Lime and the Ash. 



The same may be said of shrubs and herbs. Indeed, 

 herbs include a large proportion of flowering plants 

 of the most widely divergent groups. 



Another mode of division of plants according to 

 their use, suggested by L'Obel and adopted by Gerard, 

 was of no higher value. 



Linnaeus made use of the number of stamens to 

 group plants. This, whilst an advance upon previous 



I 



