164 CLASSIFICATION. 



If species of plants were described without any regular 

 order, we could derive no pleasure, and very little advantage 

 from the study of practical botany. If we wished to find out 

 the name of a plant, we should be obliged to turn over the 

 leaves of a large volume, without any rule to guide us in our 

 search. 



The necessity of some kind of system was so apparent, that 

 many attempts for the methodical arrangement of plants, were 

 made, before the time of Linnaeus ; but his system was so 

 superior to all others, that it was no sooner published to the 

 world, than it was adopted by the universal consent of all men 

 of science. 



Previous to this time, Tournefort, a native of France, hail 

 published an ingenious method of arrangement, beautiful by its 

 simplicity, but imperfect, on account of the vagueness of its 

 application. The characters of his classes were founded upon 

 the absence, presence, and form of the corolla. Tournefort 

 made twenty-two classes ; these he subdivided into sections or 

 orders. 



The first seventeen classes contained herbs and shrubs ; the 

 remaining/ve contained trees. 



The division of the first seventeen classes, or those which 

 contain herbs and shrubs, was as follows. 



The first/bur classes had monopetalous corollas ; they were 

 Bell-form, Funnel-form, Labiate and Personate. 



The seven following classes contained the Cruciform, Rosa- 

 ceous, Umbelliferous, Caryophyllous, Liliaceous, Papilionaceous, 

 and the Anomalous. 



The three following included the Compoundjlowers. 



The three next following, included ; 



1st. Plants having Stamens without a corolla. 



2d. Such as had no flower. 



3d. Such as had neither flower nor fruit. 



Next followed the arrangement of large and small trees. 



The eighteenth and nineteenth classes were Apetalous, hav- 

 ing corollas without petals ; and Amentaceous, having flowers 

 in a catkin ; as the chesnut and willow. 



The twentieth class contained such large and small trees as 

 had monopetalous corollas. 



The twenty-first and twenty-second classes contained such 

 large and small trees as had polypetalous corollas ; Rosaceous, 

 as the apple and lilac, or papilionaceous, as the locust. , r 



Necessity of order in description Attempts at arrangement made before the 

 time of Linnaeus. Tournefort's classes, on what founded How many Men- 

 tion the divisions of the first seventeen Eighteenth and nineteenth classes 

 Twentieth class Twenty-first and twenty-second classes. 



