THE FLOWERING PLANTS 



OF 



GREAT BRITAIN 



As one of the chief objects of this work is to aid those who have not hitherto 

 studied Botany, some slight explanation is necessary of its mode of arrange- 

 ment, and of the terms employed. English, rather than Latin, terms have in 

 all cases been used by the writer, so as to adapt the Flora to the use of the 

 unscientific. 



The method of classification is that which is termed the Natural System. 

 The system of Linnaeus, though well suited for convenience of reference, has 

 yielded in our day to an arrangement which is founded on the more true 

 affinities in plants, and by which they are grouped according to their nature, 

 structure, and properties, instead of being classed by more arbitrary signs. 



Various Natural Systems have been employed by botanists, but that which 

 is now chiefly used in Britain is one adapted from those of Jussieu and Decan- 

 dolle. By this plan, the whole Vegetable Kingdom is divided into three 

 great Classes. These are divided into Sub-classes, which are again divided 

 into Orders, and these Orders into Genera, containing Species and Varieties. 

 The last-named distinction is not always so obvious as the others, and it is one 

 on which botanists often diff'er, some regarding only as a variety that which 

 others have determined to be a species. A Species is a collection of individual 

 plants which resemble each other in all important points, these characters 

 being found constantly in the plants under all circumstances of soil or situa- 

 tion. A Variety is a difference which is not permanent nor essential. 

 Thus, the colour of a flo^ver, an unusual number of the petals, the thorny or 

 smooth condition of its stem, is sufficient only to constitute a variety, because 

 under other conditions of its growth the plant would be likely to lose these 

 peculiarities. 



The following explanation of the descriptive terms used will aid the reader 

 to comprehend them : — 



The Root. — rThis often consists, as in most Grasses, of a tuft of fibres 

 (Fig. 1), with pores at their extremities, by means of which they absorb 

 initriment from the soil. 



In other cases, however, the nourishment drawn by the fibres is received 

 in another organ ; and this pait is then termed the root-stock, and the fibres 

 the rootlets. 



The so-called Creeping root (2), of which we have familiar examples in the 

 Couchgrass and Horseradish, is really a stem. 



1 



