FLORA S LEXICON. 



243 



ascertaining the family and species to which any individual 

 plant may belong. I shall now elucidate the whole by an 

 example. 



" Suppose that you have found, and brought home from your 

 walk, a delicate, blue, bell-shaped flower, called by some bell- 

 flower, by others Canterbury-bell, and by others again blue-bell. 

 You naturally wish to know by what name this plant is distin- 

 guished by the botanist, what name all scientific men in every 

 country have agreed to give it, that you may be at no loss under 

 what name to look for a description of it, or how to communicate 

 to others any observations you may have made upon this plant 

 yourself. 



" In the first place, then, examine how many stamina, or how 

 many of those small bodies called its antherse, are to be found in 

 the bell-shaped corolla, or blossom ; you discover five ; now run 

 over the classes of Linnaeus, till you come to that which is dis- 

 tinguished by its five stamina; this is called pentandria, and 

 you therefore know your flower to be in this class. Next look 

 for the pistillum or pistilla, of which in this plant you will find 

 only one ; this characterizes the first order, called monogynia, 

 and therefore your plant is in the class pentandria, and order 

 monogynia. You have now done with the stamina and pistilla, 

 jind must attend to the other parts of the flower, comparing them 

 as you go on, with the characters of all the genera in this first 

 order of the fifth class. The calyx you find to have five divi- 

 sions, sharp, and not quite upright; the corolla of one petal, bell- 

 shaped with five clefts, close at the base; shrivelling; segments 

 broad, sharp, open ; seed-vessel roundish, of three or four cells ; 

 all which tallies exactly with the generic character of campa- 

 nula ; this therefore is the genus, and you have now only to find 

 out to what species yours belongs. The leaves nearest to the 

 roots, and which are generally so close to the ground as to require 

 care not to leave them behind in gathering the plant, you will 

 find to be round, or rather heart-shaped, or sometimes kidney- 

 shapod, whilst the leaves on the stem are narrow, and strap- 

 shaped ; this determines the species, and in this your flower 

 agrees with the character of that called rotundifolia. You have 



