252 ENGLISH WILD FLO WEES. 



it may be nearly connected with some beautiful plant, 

 and form a link in that grand chain of design and 

 foreknowledge which pervade the universe. The chick- 

 weed and the carnation are an instance of this, and 

 with a little practice most British wild plants may be 

 recognized and referred to their appropriate families. 

 A few brief hints will furnish the key to this com- 

 paratively unknown world, and the index will supply 

 much useful information connected with each flower. 



THE LINN^AN SYSTEM will be found simple and 

 ingenious, though somewhat artificial. He divides all 

 plants into twenty-four classes, which are subdivided 

 into orders. Both orders and classes depend on the 

 number and position of the stamens and pistils. Of 

 these orders, one is composed of plants without 

 flowers, such as ferns and mosses ; and the remainder 

 are all plants bearing stamens and pistils, if not 

 flowers. The first eleven classes depend solely upon 

 the number of the stamens. The twelfth and thir- 

 teenth, partly upon the number of the stamens and 

 partly on their relative position to other parts of the 

 flower. The fourteenth and fifteenth classes are regu- 

 lated by the relative lengths or number and propor- 

 tion of the stamens. The sixteenth, seventeenth, and 



