PART II. 



GENERAL MORPHOLOGY 

 AND CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS, 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 OUTLINE OF CLASSIFICATION. 



355. Morphology* of plants is the study of the forms of 

 plants and the form of plant parts. In the study of the life and 

 work of plants we have studied the form of the plant parts (of 

 the higher plants) in their relation to function, i.e., in relation to 

 the work which they perform. A more critical and minute 

 study of the plant parts would be necessary in connection with 

 the special classification or identification of plants, as for exam- 

 ple in the determination of the names of flowers. In general 

 morphology we study the more general types of form under which 

 the plant parts appear. In comparative morphology we study 

 the form of the same organ or plant part in different plants, even 

 in those of very remote relationship, in order to recognize organs 

 of the same kind under different guises, and to trace the evolu- 

 tion of plant organs in order to acquire a clearer knowledge of 

 the broader relationships existing among all plants. 



356. Classification. Classification is the arrangement or 

 classifying of objects or ideas in an orderly and intelligible man- 

 ner, in such a way that those of one special kind or general kind 

 are grouped together. The classification of plants, then, is the 

 arrangement of plants according to the kinds, or according to the 



* />iop<>7=form, Aoyos= discourse. 

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