242 



FLORA'S LEXICON. 



" Thus have we given a sketch of the Linnsean division of the 

 vegetable kingdom into twenty-four classes, and of each class 

 into two or more orders. 



" The next division is into genera or families, each genus 

 uniting together all those plants which bear so strong an affinity 

 as to be considered members of the same family. The name 

 given to the genus is the name by which all the plants of that 

 family are known: thus, the genus rosa includes all the different 

 kinds of roses ; salix, which is the scientific name for willow, 

 every kind of willow ; convolvulus, every kind of bindweed ; 

 and erica, all the heaths. The distinctive or characteristic 

 marks upon which the genera are founded, are always taken 

 from the shape, position, number, or some other property of 

 the different parts of the flower, as the calyx, petals, seeds, 

 seed-vessels, &c. ; whether they be round, or heart-shaped; 

 whole, or divided ; rough, or smooth ; single, or many ; and the 

 like. 



" There is only one more division necessary to bring us down 

 to particular plants. For instance, I have found that my newly- 

 gathered flower is a rose, a convolvulus, or a heath, but I want 

 to know what kind of rose, convolvulus, &c. For this purpose 

 each genus is divided into species, the characteristic marks of 

 which are formed upon the leaves, stems, roots, or any other 

 parts of the plant, except the flower ; and some name, called the 

 specific or trivial name, is given to each species thus charac- 

 terized, which, added to the name of the genus, sufficiently dis- 

 tinguishes each particular plant : thus, there is the salix lanata, 

 salix latifolia, salix repens, or the woolly willow, the broad- 

 leaved willow, the creeping willow, and several others, which 

 are all species of the genus salix, or willow, in the same way 

 that the long-eared bat, the common bat, the vampyre bat, and 

 thp horse-shoe bat, are all species of the same genus vespertilio, 

 or bat. 



" We have now gone through all the divisions and subdivisions 

 of Linnaeus's system of classification for the vegetable kingdom ; 

 and have arrived at the ultimate object of our research, in 



