423 



CHAPTER 3. 



AREAXGE3IENT, CHARACTERS, DISTRIBrTION, PROPERTIES, AND 

 rSES or THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



Having now given a general sketch of the more important Natural 

 Systems — and especially of that one which we propose to 

 follow in this volume — and described the characters of its 

 divisions, we now proceed to the description of the various 

 natural orders which we arrange under those divisions. Our 

 attention will be chiefly directed to the more important orders, 

 and especial importance will be given to their diagnostic cha- 

 racters, — or those which are absolutely necessary for their 

 distinction. In this portion of our subject we have made free 

 use of "Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom," to which valuable 

 work we refer those who require fuller details than our object 

 and space will admit of. 



In our notice of the more important natural systems, we have 

 seen that some authors, as Jussieu, Endlicher, and Lindley, 

 commence with the simplest forms of plants, and end with the 

 most complicated ; while others, as Eay and De Candolle, take 

 an opposite course, and proceed from the most highly developed 

 plants to the simplest. "We have adopted the latter plan here, 

 because the more highly developed plants are much better known 

 than the lower, and will be moreover of more general interest to 

 the majority of our readers. 



SUB-KIXGDOM I. 



PHAXEROGA^HA, COTYLEDOXES, OR FLOW- 

 ERING PLANTS. 



Class I. DICOTYLEDOXES. 



Division I. Angiospermia. 



Sub-class I. Tkalamiflora. 



Natural Order 1. EAxrNcrxACE^, the Crowfoot or Butter- 

 cup Order {figs. 843— 848).— Character. — Herbs, or rarely 

 climbing shrubs, with an acrid watery juice. Leaves alternate 

 or opposite, generally much divided {figs. 307, 345), or some- 

 times entire, with usually dilated and sheathing petioles. Sti- 

 ■pules sometimes present, but always united to the base of the 

 petiole. Ca?i/x of 3—6, usually 5 {fig. 843) distinct sepals, 



