BRITISH WILD FLOWERS 39 



will find that in the monocotyledons the stamens 

 are three (Triandria) or six (Hexandria); while 

 in the dicotyledons they vary. But a dicoty- 

 ledon may have six stamens. What is then 

 to be done? It will be seen that plants with 

 six stamens fall into two groups. In one the 

 stamens are equal, and in the other there are 

 four long and two short ones, and only four 

 petals. These plants all have a strong family 

 likeness, and owing to the arrangement of the 

 petals they have been placed in the N.O. Cruci- 

 ferae, Group x (Fig. 22). 



Again, very many plants have five stamens, 

 but in some cases they are free, while in others 

 the anthers form a tube. In the latter case the 

 flowers are compound, and so we have (Fig. 19) 

 Group viii, N.O. Compositae, which corresponds 

 with the Syngenesia of Linnaeus. The arrange- 

 ment, therefore, is the simplest possible. There 

 are very few plants with one stamen only, 

 and these will not be found by the beginner, so I 

 start with the plants which have two stamens 

 and one pistil (or more). This forms the second 

 class in the Linnean system, known as Di- 

 andria. The term andria in all these expressions 

 means stamen, or male organ. 



No system will include all the plants, because 

 Nature refuses to be bound by rules laid down by 

 man. But, once we have got a good hold of the 

 great laws, the exceptions may be easily mastered. 



