BOTANY. 



595 



CLASS XIX. Anifntacees. Trees and shrubs 

 having their male flowers, and some of their female 

 flowers also, disposed in an amentum. This class 

 contains six sections, and are distinguished by their 

 unisexual flowers being separate and dissimilar on the 

 same root, producing a nut ; or the like on the same 

 root, the fruit being contained in a leathery capsule ; 

 or a simple or compound berry ; or in a strobilus ; or 

 in a globular scaly receptacle ; or lastly, trees and 

 shrubs with male and female amentaceous flowers on 

 separate roots. 



CLASS XX. Monopetalte. Trees and shrubs 

 having monopetalous, campanulate, or infundibuli- 

 form flowers. This class contains seven sections, 

 distinguished from each other by the character 

 of the fruit ; that is, whether drupe, berry, capsule, 

 follicle, &c. 



CLASS XXI. Rosacei. Trees and shrubs having 

 rosaceous polypetalous flowers. There are nine sec- 

 tions in this class, founded on the character of the 

 fruit. 



CLASS XXII. Papilionacei. Trees and shrubs 

 having papilionaceous flowers and leguminous fruits. 

 This class contains three sections, distinguished from 

 each other by the character of their leaves, viz. 

 whether simple, or pinnate, or ternate. 



The above is an abridged sketch of the system of 

 Tournefort ; and is given with the view that the 

 reader may see by what gradual steps the science of 

 botany has risen from a chaotic mass of indistinction 

 to its present improved state ; and to show also 

 how much is really due to the great industry of its 

 author as a practical botanist. His labours, con- 

 sidering the state of the science when he lived, were 

 indeed great, and far surpassing those of either Lin- 

 naeus or Jussieu. In fact, Tournefort was pioneer to 

 both ; and amassed, and in many cases assorted to 

 their hands, the materials of which both their systems 

 are formed. 



THE LINN^EAN, OR, SEXUAL SYSTEM. 



The sexuality of plants had been discovered long 

 before the time of Linnaeus. But as far as is now 

 known, he was the first who suggested the idea of 

 classifying plants according to the numbers, con- 

 nection, and stations of the male and female organs. 

 From the moment the idea occurred to him, he was 

 indefatigable in the completion of a system which 

 he, no doubt, fondly flattered himself was founded in 

 nature. His great acquirements as a scholar, his 

 love of natural history, his station among learned 

 men, and his connection with many learned societies, 

 eminently fitted him for achieving this great and 

 laborious work. 



The plan of the Linnaean system of botany was 

 intended to comprehend the whole vegetable king- 

 dom, and which was arranged in two errand divisions, 

 namely, plants having visible flowers (Pha;nogamia), 

 and plants having no visible flowers (Agamia or 

 Cryptogamia}. 



The first grand division comprises twenty-three 

 classes, founded on the number, the position, and 

 stations of the stamens and pistils. The first eleven 

 classes proceed in an uninterrupted series, from one 

 to twelve stamens, and are named respectively from 

 their number. The terms used to express the classes, 

 are compounded of the Greek numerals and the 

 word andria, signifying man. These classes are 

 subdivided into orders, which are designated from 



their number of pistils by Greek numerals also, with 

 the addition of the word gynia, which signifies woman. 

 There being no plants which have invariably eleven 

 stamens, this class in the order is called Dodecandria, 

 and contains all plants having from eleven to nine- 

 teen stamens. The twelfth class is known from 

 having twenty or more stamens, seated upon the 

 corolla or calyx, and which sufficiently distinguishes 

 it from the thirteenth class, which has also twenty or 

 more stamens, but these are seated on the receptacle 

 or base of the flower. 



The fourteenth and fifteenth classes are distin- 

 guished, not by the number of their stamens, but by 

 their unequal length : the first has four stamens, two 

 of which are longer than the others. This class is 

 further distinguished from having invariably ringent, 

 that is, gaping flowers. The fifteenth class has six 

 stamens, four long and two short, with one pistil and 

 cross-shaped flowers. 



The sixteenth class is known by having the fila- 

 ments united in one body at the bottom, and without 

 regard of their number. The seventeenth class has 

 stamens united in two sets, and is otherwise easily 

 known from having also papilionaceous flowers. The 

 eighteenth class has its stamens in three or more sets. 

 The nineteenth class contains all the compound flow- 

 ers, and a few other genera having single flowers. 

 The leading character of this class is in the anthers 

 being united in a cylinder round the style. The 

 twentieth class is known by having its anthers grow- 

 ing on the pistil, and not on the receptacle. The 

 twenty-first class has male and female flowers 

 separate, but on the same plant. The twenty-second 

 has male flowers on one plant, and females on ano- 

 ther. The twenty-third class contains those genera 

 which have not only unisexual flowers on different 

 plants, but also bisexual flowers intermixed. The 

 twenty-fourth class contains all plants whose flowers 

 are inconspicuous. To these Linnasus added another 

 class, which he called Palmae, the flowers of which 

 were riot sufficiently known in his time to admit of 

 their being properly placed in the system. 



The foregoing is a general sketch of the classes 

 of the Linnaean system ; we have next to present a 

 view of the subdivisions or orders of each class, which, 

 with figures of the parts on which the distinctions 

 are formed, will give as clear a view of the system as 

 is consistent with the plan of this work. 



The first class, MONANDHIA, having one stamen, 

 contains only thirty-three genera, and two hundred 

 and fifty species. Some of the genera, as the Cannas 

 and Hedychiums, are highly ornamental exotics ; and 

 the Zingiber officinale, the common ginger, is an 

 important article of commerce ; both seeds and roots 

 of many plants in this class are used in medicine, as 

 well as by the dyer, as galangale, turmeric, arrow- 

 root, and zedoary. Their predominating qualities 

 are aromatic. They are chiefly reed-looking, herba- 

 ceous plants, with large leaves and showy flowers. 

 Several of the genera are British, as centranthus, 

 glass-wort, mares-tail, and wrack-grass. The mares- 

 tail, Hippuris, is a curious plant, not uncommon in 

 ponds and ditches. It has a single jointed stalk, and 

 at each joint are twelve or more linear leaves, placed 

 verticillate or in a whorl. To each of these leaves, 

 and close to the stalk, sits a little flower consisting 

 of a single stamen and pistil, one seed and nothing 

 more ; both calyx and corolla being wanting. All 

 the plants alluded to above are in the first order, 

 Y Y2 



