HOW TO USE THE KEY AND THE FLORA. 



Assuming that the student has carefully read the Intro- 

 ductory part of this work, and is familiar with the ordinary 

 botanical terms, and the chief variations in plant-structure 

 as there set forth, it should, with the aid of the accompany- 

 ing Key, be a very simple task to refer to its proper Family 

 any Canadian wild plant of common occurrence. To illustrate 

 the method of using this Key, let us suppose that specimens 

 of the following plants have been gathered, and that it is 

 desired to ascertain their botanical names, that is, the name 

 of the Genus and the Species of each : Red Clover, 

 Strawberry, Blue Flag, and Cat-tail Flag. 



All of these produce flowers of some kind, and must 

 therefore be looked for under the head of FLOWERING, OR 

 PHANEROGAMOUS, PLANTS. 



With the specimen of Red Clover in hand, and the book 

 open at page xiii, we find that we have first to determine 

 whether our plant is Dicotyledonous or not. The veining of 

 the leaves suggests that it is so ; and this impression is con- 

 firmed by the fact that the parts of the flower are in fives. 

 Then, is the plant an ANGIOSPERM ? As the seed will be found 

 enclosed in an ovary, we answer Yes. Has the plant both 

 calyx and corolla ? Yes. Are the parts of the corolla sepa- 

 rate ? Here a little doubt may arise ; but suppose we answer 

 Tes. Then our plant will be found somewhere in the 

 POLYPETALOUS DIVISION. Proceeding with the enquiries 

 suggested under this heading : Are the stamens more than 

 twice as many as the petals? We find that they are not. 



