BRITISH WILD FLOWERS 37 



stamens. Their fleshy leaves, with parallel 

 veins, strange shapes; and absence of stamens, 

 will be sufficient guides for their identification. 



IV. THE CLASSIFICATION OF FLOWERS 



Plants have been classified in various ways. 

 Some writers have divided them into trees, 

 shrubs, and herbs ; others have arranged them 

 according to the colour of the flowers, the shape 

 of the fruit, or the nature of the root. Linnaeus 

 taught us to count the stamens and pistils. But 

 in all these methods the real and natural 

 resemblances were often overlooked. The apple 

 is a tree, the rose a shrub, the strawberry a herb, 

 and the fruits differ, yet their family relation- 

 ships are strong. They each have five sepals, 

 five petals, and many stamens. The stamens, 

 too, are attached to the petals and sepals, and 

 not, as in the buttercups, to the receptacle. So 

 they all belong to one family, which has been 

 named the Rosaceous family, N.O. Rosaceae. 



But the beginner has to find out what forms a 

 family or Natural Order (N.O.) ; and he must 

 have a guide. I have therefore adopted the 

 method of Linnaeus, and adapted it to the 

 natural system. The stamens are the first and 

 most important organs in the following method. 

 The young botanist, when he has counted the 

 stamens, will turn to the classification. He 



