230 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



during preceding centuries. But beyond the subdivision 

 by Aristotle and Theophrastus into Trees, Shrubs, and 

 Herbs, this branch of our science was practically dormant 

 until the sixteenth century. 



The beginning of a scientific system is indicated in the 

 celebrated Herbal of John Gerard, but to better advantage 

 in the De Plantis of Andreas Caesalpinus, who divided the 

 vegetable kingdom into fifteen classes, each distinguished 

 by a typical fruit. Other distinguishing characters were 

 introduced by subsequent writers. John Ray divided 

 ' flowering ' from ' flowerless ' plants, and suggested the 

 terms Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons as prime divisions 

 of the former. Robert Morison considered the structures 

 of the flower and of the fruit ; and De Tournefort proceeded 

 to more detail by taking the corolla into account. 



The illustrious Swedish botanist, Carl Linne, better 

 known by the latinized form of his name, Linnaeus, now 

 enters into our brief review. He introduced a classification 

 based upon the reproductive organs, i. e. the stamens and 

 pistil. The effect of the Linnaean system on systematic 

 botany cannot be over-estimated, and although the system 

 in detail was subsequently replaced by others, the lines 

 of thought and nomenclature which he developed are 

 fundamental. 



The Linnaean system was artificial ; the natural affinities 

 and relations of plants were ignored, although the author 

 was aware that these considerations were essential to a 

 correct classification of the vegetable kingdom. It fore- 

 shadowed a natural system, a system which would exhibit 

 a continuous sequence of plant-life, from the lowest vege- 

 table organisms to the most elaborated members of the 

 plant world. Such a system could not be derived from 

 a study of the functions and forms of one or more special 

 organs of plants ; it could only be deduced from a study 

 of the forms and development of these organs. 



