12 MANUAL OF BOTANY 



CHAPTEE II. 



SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATION, 



We have already stated that Systematic Botany has for its 

 object the naming, describing, and arranging of plants in such a 

 manner that we may readily ascertain their names, and at the 

 same time get an insight into their affinities and general 

 properties. Every system that has been devised for the 

 arrangement of plants does not, however, comprise all the 

 above points ; for, while some systems are of value simply for 

 affording us a ready means of ascertaining their names, others 

 not only do this, but at the same time give us a knowledge of 

 their affinities and properties. Hence we divide the different 

 systems of Classification mider two heads ; namely, Artificial 

 and Natural — the former only necessarily enabling us to 

 ascertain readily the name of a particular plant ; while the 

 latter, if perfect, should comprise all the points which come 

 within the object of Systematic Botany. The great aim of the 

 Botanist, therefore, should be the development of a true 

 Natural System; but in past times, Artificial Systems, more 

 particularly that of Linneeus, have been of great value. 

 Linnaeus himself never devised his system with any expectation 

 or desire of its serving more than a temporary purpose, or as an 

 introduction to the Natural System, when the materials for its 

 formation had been obtained. 



In both artificial and natural systems, the lower divisions — 

 namely, the genera and species — are the same, the difference 

 between the systems consisting in the manner in which these 

 divisions are grouped into orders, classes, and other higher 

 groups. Thus in the Linnaean and other artificial systems, one, 

 or, at most, a few characters are arbitrarily selected, and aU the 

 plants in the Vegetable Kingdom are distributed under classes 

 and orders according to the correspondence or difference of the 

 several genera in such respects, no regard being had to any 

 other characters. The plants in the classes and orders of an 



