328 



ought to be ; Digitalis is placed at the end of the Luridfe, quite as 

 unnaturally as it could be anywhere ; and the place of Buddleia not 

 having been determined, that genus is put with the other unlocated 

 plants at the end of the orders. The lime-tree and the Corchorus are 

 in like manner actually placed by Linnaeus himself in his order Cul- 

 miniae. As to the non-union of the castor-oil plant with the box, it 

 is a curious fact that the name of the genus Buxus does not occur in 

 any one of the natural orders given in the ' Philosophia Botanica' 

 (ed. 1751) ; though in the ' English Flora' it stands as a member of 

 the Linnaean order Tricoccae (equivalent to our Euphorbiaceae), on 

 the authority of Sir J. E. Smith. The American aloe was not placed 

 with the snowdrop, perhaps because Linnaeus did not know what to 

 do with it, since we find it, under the name of Aloe Yucca among 

 those uncertain plants to which he had not given " a local habitation." 

 Though what objection can be advanced against the location of these 

 two plants in the same order — Amaryllidaceae — further than that the 

 flower-stem of the one is woody and bears a great number of flowers, 

 while that of the other is herbaceous and single-flowered, we do not 

 understand ; especially as the flowers agree in having an inferior three- 

 celled ovary, and six stamens with introrse anthers. It is also true 

 that Linnaeus does not place "the tulip and lily with butcher's-broom ;" 

 but then he does place the latter plant, together with asparagus, Con- 

 vallaria and Gloriosa, in a most heterogeneous assemblage of plants 

 called Sarmentaceae : and the three genera last named certainly agree 

 with the Liliaceae better than with anything else, and Ruscus agrees 

 in its flowers and fruit with Asparagus and Convallaria. This same 

 order Sarmentaceae also contains " the hardy and evergreen ivy," but 

 not " the delicate and lowly moschatel." Now the latter genus, 

 Adoxa, is provisionally placed by Linnaeus among his uncertain 

 plants at the end of the orders, and the ivy with Asparagus, Conval- 

 laria, Ruscus and others, in Sarmentaceae. 



With regard to outward resemblance as the basis upon which natu- 

 ral orders should be founded, the author has the following remarks : — ■ 



" That there are groups or tribes of vegetables approaching each 

 other so closely in the general aspect of the species belonging to them, 

 as to be considered not improperly as natural, there can be doubt, and 

 such have been acknowledged at all times ; as the grasses, the palms, 

 the pine tribe, roses, heaths, narcissuses, pinks, ferns, mosses, peonies, 

 irises, &c. ; but these are all founded on their outward characters, their 

 form of growth, the appearance of their flowers, and other external 

 marks ; and when we examine Linnseus's ' Methodi Naturalis Frag- 



