14 FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



usually in whorls of four or five or multiples of four or five. 

 Those plants whose seeds have only one cotyledon may be known 

 by the absence of a central pith and true bark in the stem, while 

 the wood is arranged in scattered bundles instead of in a ring or 

 rings. They have also, generally, leaves with parallel veins ; and 

 the parts of the flower are usually in threes or multiples of three. 

 The following table shows these features at a glance : — 



Dicotyledons Monocotyledons 



Embryo with two cotyledons. Embryo with one cotyledon. 



Stem with central pith, wood in Stem with no central pith, no true 



rings or rings, and bark. bark, and wood not in rings. 



Leaves with netted veins. Leaves with parallel veins. 



Parts of flower usually in fours Parts of flower arranged in threes 



or fives. or multiples of three. 



These two great divisions or classes are split up into sub-classes, 

 each embracing a large number of plants with common characters ; 

 and the sub -classes are again divided into orders, and the orders 

 into genera. 



The student should always endeavour to determine the order 

 to which any flower he finds belongs ; and, if possible, the genus 

 and the species. It is certainly a pleasure to be able to call flowers 

 by their names, but at the same time it must be remembered that 

 a vast deal of pleasure may be gained by the study of flowers — 

 their peculiar structure, habits and habitats — even though their 

 names are unknown ; and the student who has learnt to recognise 

 these characters, and to discover the relationships that exist 

 between certain flowers of different species, is certainly much 

 more fortunate than the one who knows abundance of names with 

 only a meagre acquaintance with the flowers themselves. 



Our table of classification gives the most important distin- 

 guishing characters of the classes, sub-classes, and orders, of a very 

 large proportion of our wild flowers, and will enable the reader to 

 determine the natural order of almost every one he sees. In order 

 to show how this table is to be used we will take an imaginary 

 example. 



Let us suppose that we find a plant with a square stem ; opposite, 

 simple leaves with netted veins ; flowers apparently in whorls, 

 in the axils of the leaves ; persistent calyx of five united sepals ; 

 a lipped corolla, of five united petals, two forming the lower, and 

 three the upper lip ; four stamens, attached to the corolla, two 



