100 CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



now that they were in the days of Noah, would, even since 

 the days of our forefathers, have many of them become en- 

 tirely extinct, and we should now have had a new vegetable 

 kingdom, of which Linnaeus and his immediate followers 

 knew nothing. Since the creation, therefore, it is not proba- 

 ble that a new species has been formed, though there might 

 have existed many before the flood, which were then de- 

 stroyed, and there are probably many still in existence, of 

 which we know nothing. But we must leave this fruitful 

 subject to explain the Linnaean system. 



Explanation of the Linn&an System. We have stated that 

 this system consists of 24 Classes, which are divided into 

 Orders, the Orders into Genera, the Genera into Species, and 

 the Species into Varieties, when they exist. 



The first ten classes are founded entirely on the number of 

 stamens the flowers contain, and are distinguished by names, 

 derived from the Greek, which express the number of these 

 parts belonging to each class. The first class is named Mon- 

 andria, which signifies one stamen, being compounded of the 

 Greek word monos, one, and aner, a stamen. The second 

 class, in like manner, signifies two stamens, and is called Di- 

 andria, being composed of the word dis, twice, and aner, a 

 stamen. Monandria, therefore, simply means one stamen, 

 Diandria, two stamens, arid the next class Triandria, three 

 stamens, and so on, to the tenth class, which of course has 

 ten stamens. 



This part of the classification is therefore extremely sim- 

 ple, and any child who reads it, and who has previously 

 learned to distinguish the stamens, may immediately become 

 a practical botanist ; since all that is required to refer a plant 

 to its proper place in any of the classes, from the first to the 

 tenth, is to count the stamens, and observe whether they are 

 separate, and all of the same length. Thus if the flower has 

 one stamen, he may know that it belongs to the class Monan- 

 dria, if it has two, it belongs to Diandria, if three, Trian- 

 dria, &c. 



The nomenclature of the other classes will be explained 

 in turn, and in connection with their illustrations ; after which 

 will be found a synopsis of the whole system ; there being, 



What would be the consequence of a change of species on the face ol 

 the earth ? What is the foundation of the first ten classes ? How many 

 stamens has the first class ? How many the second ? How many the 

 third ?&c. 



