CLASSIFICATION. 



MnsaceaB, however, there is a strong mid-rib with numerous parallel sec. 

 nerves, while some Araceae and Dioscoreaceae and a few others have 

 the venation copiously branched. Araceae have usually sagittate or 

 peltate leaves, while DioscoreacesB are climbers with underground 

 tubers. In the few Monoeotyledonous trees the stem is cylindrical and 

 unbranched, e.g., Toddy Palm ; the woody bundles are scattered through 

 the ground tissue of the stem which has no cambium, and therefore no 

 secondary growth (some of the arborescent Liliaceae and others are 

 exceptions and have a secondary growth in thickness). The parte 

 of the flower, when not reduced, are usually in threes. The inflorescence 

 is very often enclosed, at least at the base, by a sheathing leaf base or 

 epathe. 



Sub-class 1. 



Flowers usually showy, regular or zygomorphic, if small 

 or homochlamydeous then perianth petaloid or ovary inferior. 

 Perianth always present 2-seriate. Ovary always Byncarpous 

 superior or inferior. Orders I to IV. (p. 89). 



Sub-class 2. 



Fls. small. Perianth, if present, regular or somewhat 

 oblique sepaloid or dry or fleshy, 2-seriate in the eariier 

 orders, with the inner series somtiraes differing in size from 

 the outer, but not petaloid, reduced or absent in others. Fls. 

 usually .densely collected into spikes or very compound 

 inflorescences. Stamens many-1. Ovary superior, some- 

 times apocarpous. Orders V and VI. (p. 92). 



SYNOPSIS OF ORDERS AND FAMILIES. 1 

 Division— PTERIDOPIIYTA. 



Class— Filicineae (Ferns). 



Order I — FiHeales. 



Stems rarely branched. Z. without stipules, usually 

 clothed at the base with chaffy scales. Sporangia either 



1 The diagnoses of Orders and families are, in general, limited to 

 genera included in the Flora. The diagnosis is sometimes extended 

 however, whore such limitation would ver> poorly characterize the group 

 concerned, and in order to embrace plants not included in the Flora, but 

 found wild or cultivated in Chota Nagpur. Exceptions »re similarly 

 limited. Characters in italics are those which chiefly distinguish the 

 group from allied groups. 



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