114. THE NATURAL SYSTEM. 
345. The first and highest division of the vegetable kingdom, 
namely, into the Phenogamia or Flowering Plants, and the 
Cryptogamia or Flowerless Plants, has already been noticed, 
and its distinctions explained, in Chapter III, and elsewhere. 
These grand divisions le at the foundation of both the System 
of Linneeus and of Jussieu, and are truly founded in nature; 
for . 
The PHZNOGAMIA 
_1. Consist of a regular axis of growth with leafy appendages. 
2. They possess a woody and vascular structure. 
8. They develope flowers, and 
4, They produce seeds. On the other hand 
The CrYPTOGAMIA 
1. Are destitute of a regular axis and of true leaves. 
2. They possess a cellular structure only. 
8. They do not develope flowers, and 
4. They produce sporES (129) instead of seeds. 
346. These distinctive characters must not, however, be regarded as decisive in 
all cases ; for the higher Cryptogamia, as the ferns, give indications both of a regu- 
lar woody axis and of a vascular structure, while some of the lower Phzenogamia 
can scarcely be said to produce flowers. And, universally, so gradual are the 
transitions from family to family and tribe to tribe, that it is impossible to fix 
upon characters so definite as to completely circumscribe any one group, while at 
_ the same time, they exclude every member of surrounding and approximating 
groups. 
347. There is a small and curious order of plants of comparatively recent dis- 
covery, native chiefly of the East Indies, which appear, from the most authentic 
accounts of them, to form the connecting link between the Flowering and Flow- 
erless plants, combining a part of the characters of each, so that botanists are at 
a loss to which it belongs. They possess a cellular structure, develope flowers 
immediately from the root, whence they are called Rhizanths (¢:tn, a root, avec, 
a flower); but their ovaries are said to be filled with spores instead of seeds, and 
hence they are also called Sporogens. Ex. Rafflesia. 
348. Again, the Phenogamia are very naturally resolved into 
two subdivisions, depending upon their manner of growth, called 
Exocens and Enpocens, whose distinctions are briefly as fol- 
lows : — 
EXOGENS, 
1. Growing by external accretions (196). 
2. Bearing leaves which have reticulated veins (229) and which fall off by 
an articulation. ; 
8. Seeds with two or more cotyledons (127) or dicotyledonous. 
