SUBORDINATION OF GROUPS: CHARACTERS. 355 



or points of difference between one class or order, &c., and the 

 others, is termed its character. The characters of the classes, and 

 other primary divisions, embrace only those important points of 

 structure upon which they are constituted : the ordinal character 

 describes the general structure of the included plants, especially of 

 their flowers and fruit : the generic character points out the partic- 

 ular modifications of the ordinal structure in a given genus ; and 

 the specific character, those less important modifications of form, 

 relative size of parts, color, &c., which serve to distinguish kindred 

 species. A complete system of Botany will therefore comprise a 

 methodical distribution of plants according to their organization, 

 with their characters arranged in proper subordination ; so that 

 the investigation of any one particular species will bring to view, 

 not only its name (which separately considered is of little im- 

 portance), but also its floral structure, affinities, and whole natural 

 history. 



679. Such a system must of course be natural; that is, the 

 groups, of whatever rank, must be composed of plants more close- 

 ly related to each other than to any different groups, and so ar- 

 ranged that each shall stand, as far as practicable, next to those 

 which it most nearly resembles in structure. These conditions 

 are so far fulfilled by the Natural System (which, sketched by 

 ihe master-hand of Jussieu, and augmented by succeeding bota- 

 nists, is now generally adopted), as to render it on the whole 

 far the readiest, as well as the only philosophical and satisfac- 

 tory, method of acquiring any considerable amount of botanical 

 knowledge. 



680. But the relationships of plants, even when appreciated by 

 botanists, could not be made available for the purpose of classifi- 

 cation, until just views prevailed in vegetable orgariography and 

 physiology, which constitute the very foundation of Systematic 

 Botany, but which have only recently been placed upon a philo- 

 sophical basis. Hence the immortal Linnseus, finding it impossi- 

 ble in his day to characterize the natural groups which his prac- 

 tised eye detected, proposed, as a temporary substitute, the elegant 



TRIBE is applied to groups comprised in a suborder (thus the Rose constitutes 

 a separate tribe from the Raspberry, Strawberry, &c.). or to the primary di- 

 visions of an order, when they are not founded on characters of high impor- 

 tance. In a loose and popular sense, the name of Tribe is sometimes used as 

 if synonymous with that of Order or Family. 



