SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATION 27 



and to the English translation of Le Maout and Decaisne's 

 ' Traite General de Botanique,' edited by Sir J. D. Hooker. 



Besides the above systems, others are now much used in 

 Germany, as those of A. Braun and Caruel of the Phanero- 

 gamia ; and those of Sachs and others of the Crj'ptogamia. 



The most recent sj'stem is that put forward by Warming, 

 who divides the Gymnosperms into three classes instead of three 

 natural orders, viz. Coniferae, Cycadeae, and Gnetaceee. The 

 Angiosperms are then divided into Monocotyledons and Dicoty- 

 ledons. The sub-classes of De CandoUe and his successors are 

 abandoned, and Dicotyledons are divided into (1) ChoripetalEe, 

 with which are united the old Apetalae, and (2) Sympetalae. The 

 Choripetalse are subdivided into twenty-five families ; the Sym- 

 petalae into two sections, Pentacyclicae and Tetracyclicae, the 

 former including three families and the latter eight, divided into 

 those with hypogynous and those with epigynous flowers. 

 Monocotyledons are grouped into seven families on somewhat 

 similar lines to those adopted in the older system of Braun, 

 already alluded to. 



It will be seen that the Natural System now in use has been 

 gradually evolved through the working of many observers, ex- 

 tending over many years. There is no reason to suppose that it 

 has yet attained anything like completeness ; indeed,* many of 

 the groups are still variously placed by different botanists. For 

 the present, however, the Vegetable Kingdom may be con- 

 veniently divided into the following four groups : — 



I. Thallophyta, including the forms whose vegetative body 

 is commonly a thallus or a thalloid shoot. It rarely shows 

 greater morphological differentiation. The prominent form is 

 the gametophyte, the sporophyte not always occurring. 



It is subdivided into : 



Class 1. Algae. 

 „ 2. Fungi. 

 „ 3. Lichenes. 



II. Bryophyta, or Moss-like plants. The gametophyte is the 

 more prominent form, and regularly alternates with the sporo- 

 phyte. Differentiation of the bod}- of the former into stem and 

 leaves is genera], but the roots are rudimentary or absent. 



It includes : 



Class 4. Hepaticae. 

 ,, 5. Musci. 



