SYSTEMS DEFECTIVE. 163 



includes all plants that have a straight hollow stem, 

 without branches, and commonly jointed, a single 

 undivided leaf, part of which surrounds the stem 

 like a sheath growing from each joint, and 

 flowers each bearing only one seed. [See PLATES 

 5. and 6.] Plants which have these characters, 

 whatever be the class in which they have been 

 placed according to the method of Linnaeus, be- 

 long to the natural order of grasses, called in Latin 

 Gram'ina. The different species of rush, and the 

 rice-plant, for instance, are placed in the sixth 

 class of Linnaeus, because they have six stamens ; 

 out they belong to this natural order, as well as the 

 various kinds of corn and the sugar-cane, which 

 have only three. This separation of genera that are 

 so much alike, is one of the principal defects of the 

 Linnaean system. 



EDWARD. 



But is there no arrangement better than Lin- 

 naeus's ? 



MOTHER. 



Several different systems or arrangements of 

 plants have been invented by other botanists ; 

 which are founded, some upon the fruit, some upon 

 the corolla, and others upon the general appear- 

 ance, or natural character, of the whole plant, 

 without regard to the number of stamens and pistils. 

 There is not any one quite free from objections ; 

 but the ingenuity of some of them will interest 

 M 2 



