ANALYTICAL KEY 



TO THE NATURAL ORDERS, Ac. OF ALL THE PLANTS DESCRIBED IN THIS 

 WORK, BOTH INDIGENOUS AND EXOTIC. 



This Artificial Analytical Key is a contrivance to lead the pupil, with a, plant 

 in his hand to him unknown, by a succession of easy steps, up to the name of 

 the natural order to which the plant under examination belongs. 



The name at the end of the line, to which the student is brought, is that of the 

 natural order sought, for example : Magnoliace^. 



The numbers prefixed to the name indicate the page upon which the order is 

 described or treated of, for example: 15 (31) Magnoliace^;. 



The numbers without parentheses refer to the body of the volume, the indige- 

 nous Botany of the Northern States. Those within parentheses refer to the 

 Garden Botany, which is paged in continuation of the Key. 



If the plant under examination should be a wild one, the first or unenclosed 

 number is alone to be regarded, and the pupil will turn to that page in the body 

 of the volume. But if an exotic, or a plant here known only in cultivation, the 

 pupil, after reading over the description of the order in the body of the work, as 

 before, (for this description of course is not repeated,) will turn to the page in 

 the Garden Botany indicated by the number enclosed in parentheses. If the only 

 reference is to the Botany of the Northern States, follow that ; for many plants 

 in cultivation are also among our wild plants. 



Although this Key is a purely artificial contrivance, it is a very necessary 

 one to beginners ; who, however, will very soon get to know the Classes, Sub- 

 classes, &c. at sight, and, after considerable practice, will by degrees be able to 

 recognize at a glance all the commonest natural orders in almost any examples 

 of them they take in hand. The Key is based on the easiest and most obvious 

 botanical characteristics that can be made to answer the purpose ; yet it will 

 bring out, one by one, the principal points, especially in the structure of the 

 flower, by which plants are classified and the natural orders distinguished. 



