THE PHYLOGENETIC TAXONOMY OF FLOWERING 



PLANTS 



CHARLES E. BESSEY 

 University of Nebraska 



I. Genekal Discussion 



Seventeen years ago in presenting a somewhat similar 

 paper 1 to a smaller body of botanists, I began by saying that 

 "it is as yet impossible to present a complete phylogeny of 

 the angiosperms," and then a little later, "it will be many a 

 year before the direct evidence we so much desire will leave 

 no considerable gaps," and I am impelled to use the same 

 words now as I begin this discussion to-day. For, while in this 

 interval paleontology has uncovered many important facts 

 whose significance is unmistakable, it is still true that there 

 are "considerable gaps" in the record of the evolution of 

 plants, both before and after the attainment of flower produc- 

 tion. In other words, we are still in quest of direct testimony 

 as to how flowers came into existence in particular, and as 

 to the details of how and when they were modified afterwards. 

 Yet we are not wholly without the direct testimony of the 

 rocks in our inquiry as to the phylesis of the higher plants. 



And I may be permitted here to enter a defense of such a 

 discussion as I propose to make in this paper, in reply to those 

 who think that since much of what I shall have to say is 

 reached by a process of deduction, or, as it is more commonly 

 called, speculation, it can have little scientific value. And I 

 grant that in those fields where direct observation, experiment, 

 and induction are possible there can be no defense of the ex- 

 clusive deductive or speculative method. There are, however, 

 many fields of botanical inquiry in which experiment is im- 

 possible, and observation is reduced to a minimum, and this 



1 Bessey, C. E. The phylogeny and taxonomy of angiosperms. (Address of 

 the retiring president of the Botanical Society of America, at its third annual 

 meeting, at Toronto, Canada, August 17, 1897.) Bot. Gaz. 24: 145-178. f. 1-3. 



1897. 



Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard., Vol. 2, 1915 



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