50 Proceedings 
its distribution and habit. Mr. Salmon presented a reprint 
from the Journal of Botany, giving a complete account of 
what is known of this rare Mallow. 
Miss Sargant then gave a Lecture entitled :— 
THE FAamMILy TREE OF FLOWERING PLANTS, 
The scientific meaning of the Flowering Plant is not very 
precise. In using it this evening, I intend to include Mono- 
cotyledons and Dicotyledons only. 
The Flowering Plants defined in this way form a natural 
group, widely separated by the structure of the reproductive 
organs from any other race of plants—a structure identical 
in both Classes. The characters which separate them are now 
considered of minor systematic value. This view is strongly 
confirmed by recent research in two distinct branches of 
Botany: the study of the reproductive organs, and that of 
Fossil Anatomy. If it is well-founded we must consider 
Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons as descended from a 
common stock of Flowering Plants in which the structure 
of the reproductive organs was essentially the same as 
that found in both classes. 
With respect to the characters which separate Monoco- 
tyledons from Dicotyledons, three possibilities must be 
considered. (1) The Primitive Flowering Plant may have 
been quite intermediate in those points, so that if now re- 
covered botanists would be unable to rank it as a member 
of either Class. (2) It may have been essentially a Mono- 
cotyledon, perhaps with some characters approaching those 
of a Dicotyledon. Or(3) it may have been in all essentials 
a Dicotyledon. 
The first hypothesis has never been seriously put for- 
ward, and it would be difficult to maintain. We may I 
think assume that the Primitive Flowering Plant was in 
essentials either a Monocotyledon or a Dicotyledon. Of 
these alternatives, the first has been most generally accept- 
ed. Monocotyledons have been considered more primitive 
than Dicotyledons. My own work has led me to the oppo- 
site conclusion, and I wish to-night to give some reasons 
are 
an ae 
