OUTLINES OF BOTANY. liii 



plant to determine, will first take the general table of Natural Orders, and 

 examining his plant at each step to see which alternative agrees with it, 

 will be led on to the Order to which it belongs, he will then compare it 

 with the detailed character of the Order given in the text. If it agrees, 

 he will follow the same course with the table of the genera of that Order 

 to find the genus, and again with the key of the species of that genus to 

 find the species. 



Suppose the plant to be a Dandelion, a Daisy, or a Thistle. On open- 

 ing what appears to be the flower, we see at once that each part, which we 

 may at first have taken for a petal, contains a separate style, and has a 

 separate ovary (appearing like a seed) under it, but no separate calyx, all 

 these florets being collected within a common involucre. The flower is 

 therefore compound. Our attention is also called to the anthers. They 

 may at first escape the beginner, but with a little care they will be dis- 

 covered forming a ring round the style. We may then conclude that oui 

 plant agrees with the first alternative which refers to the second bracket 

 We must now look to the ovary under any one of the florets, cut it open, 

 and, finding but a single ovule or seed, we are referred to the great Order 

 of Composite. This second bracket is only necessary to exclude two or 

 three Campanulaceae (Phyteuma and Jasione), which have the united anthers 

 and heads of flowers of Composite, but are most readily known by the 

 numerous small ovules or seeds in their ovary or fruit. On turning to the 

 description of the Order Compositae, we are cautioned against confounding 

 with them two or three other plants which have similar heads of flowers, 

 and being satisfied we are right, we proceed in th< same manner to find out 

 the genus of our plant. 



Suppose the plant to be a Violet. Although the anthers are united in a 

 ring, the flowers are quite separate, each with its own calyx, and we are 

 referred by the second alternative to the third bracket, the double perianth 

 refers us to the fourth the free ovary to the sixth, the single ovary to the 

 seventh, the irregular corolla to the forty-first, the spur to one of the petals 

 to the forty-second, the five stamens to the forty-third, under which the five 

 sepals and petals indicate at once the genus Viola. We then compare our 

 plant with the description of the genus in the Flora, before we proceed 

 to ascertain the species. In making use of these descriptions, the beginner 

 must be careful not to be misled by the popular meaning of terms to which 

 a technical sense has been given by botanists, and in all cases of doubt he 

 should refer to the definitions through the Index of Terms. 



After a little habit, this mechanical process will be much abridged. The 

 great divisions of the general analytical table will be at once recognised, and 

 very soon the large Orders and genera will become so familiar, that in most 

 cases the amateur will only have to commence with them. Yet in all cases 

 of doubt and hesitation, wherever the plant does not agree perfectly with 

 the generic character and description, he must revert to the beginning, and 

 carefully go through every step of the investigation before he can be satisfied. 



And notwithstanding the care that has been bestowed on the framing of 

 the analytical keys of the present work, and the number of cases in which 

 they have been verified, specimen in hand, through every stage, it cannot 

 be hoped that they have been rendered so precise as to preclude doubt. 

 The beginner especially will often be at a loss as to which alternative agrees 

 the best with the plant he is examining, and one false step may lead him 

 for away from the object he if seeking. But let him not be discouraged; 



