THE FLOWERING PLANT. 
CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Scope and Subdivisions of the Subject.—The science of Borany 
endeavours to answer all questions relating to plants. It is 
subdivided into numerous branches, which share these questions 
between them. 
The query, ‘‘ What is its shape, and why is it so?”’ is answered 
by Vegetable Morphology. This deals not only with outward 
form (Descriptive Botany), but also with inward form or structure, 
the larger details of which can be made out by the unaided eye or 
by means of a lens (Vegetable Anatomy), while the finer points 
cannot be cleared up without the help of a compound microscope 
(Vegetable Histology). Another primary question is, ‘“‘ How does 
it act?” and this time the answer is given by Vegetable Physio- 
logy. But plants may also be considered in relation to one 
another. Resemblances and differences are apparent even to the 
most casual observer. Such a word as “lily” is the expression 
of a popular conviction that certain flowers (white lily, tiger lily, 
&c.) have a general resemblance to one another, and are at the 
same time different from other plants, such as “ grasses,” for 
example. Arrangement into groups according to resemblances and 
differences is Classification, and the question, ‘‘ How are plants 
arranged, or how related?” is answered by Systematic Botany, 
which is the application of classification to the vegetable world. 
Any merely popular classification, as into “lilies,” “‘ grasses,” &ec., 
is of necessity unsatisfactory, for resemblances and differences 
must be noted with a critical eye. An “arum lily,” for example, 
is quite different from other lilies, and the name is incorrect. 
Systematic Botany has two chief uses. It enables us, in the first 
place, to remember a far greater number of facts than would 
be possible without a methodical arrangement. And, again, the 
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