402 VARIOUS PLANT GROUPS 



and subdivisions of the vcgeta])lo kingdom, together with 

 one hundred of the more important famihes of seedworts, 

 and the orders and higher groups to which they belong. The 

 characters given to distinguish them must be understood 

 as l)eing merely those which prevail throughout the group 

 to which they refer, and not as being without possible excep- 

 tions besides thos(> noted. The numbers in parenthesis refer 

 to pages where further information regarding the families, 

 or illustrated examples of them, may be found. These 

 synopses show the place in a modern classification of every 

 plant we have studied in the foregoing chapters. Familiarity 

 with the distinctions given, obtained by practical use of tiie 

 synopses, should enable students to tell at sight, for a large 

 majority of the plants they may see growing wild or in culti- 

 vation, the famil}' to which each belongs. 



The student who has learned to know what is typical of 

 the comparatively few orders and families which we have 

 been examining, will be able to tell at sight the famil}^ or 

 order in which, or near which, to classify more than half of 

 the flowering plants he is likely to meet; provided, of course, 

 he has observed carefully their structural features. This 

 knowledge, and the acquaintance he has already gained with 

 the most important descriptive terms, will facilitate his use 

 of systematic works in which these and other families are 

 described in more detail. 



However far he pursues this line of study — as fascinating 

 as it is exhaustless — the student will continualh' encounter 

 plants whicli must be viewed as intermediate links connecting 

 different groups, or as exceptions which make definite limi- 

 tations practically impossible. These connecting links and 

 exceptional cases seem to defy classification in any consistent 

 arrangement, and have caused endless trouble to botanists 

 in their attempts to construct a natural system. But at 

 the same time it has happened that as botanists have come 

 to study the significance of these exceptions they have found 

 them revealing some verj'^ deep truths which have led to 

 more and more satisfactory systems of classification. It 

 behooves us therefore to examine the main beliefs which 

 have been held in regard to the meaning of these connecting 



