150 CLASSIFICATION OP PLANTS, 



itself by seed as that its own form shall result, but so that a return to its original 

 species shall inevitably follow. There are also Hybrids in plants as in animals, and 

 resulting from the operation of the same law viz., the admixture of the sexes, not of the 

 same, but of different species of one genus. 



The first point will probably depend upon one or two features only ; but the last 

 will require a knowledge of every part of the plant. Thus, whilst the multitude of 

 names which have no necessary significance tends to confuse and weary the mind, the 

 various steps of that classification render the task the lighter, and indeed infuse a deep 

 interest into the study. It is a mark of unbounded knowledge, on the part of the 

 Creator, to have made so great a multitude of varied objects ; but it is not the less so 

 that He has made many of them on a common plan, and has given to us the capability 

 of unfolding His designs. It is no mark of our mental capability to have found or seen 

 a plant ; but it is not a little flattering to us to have discovered or perceived the principle 

 on which the plant was constructed ; and this is the central point of interest to the 

 philosopher. 



But the school-boy is not without his gratification. To point out the flower, the 

 name of which we know, and to gather that to-day which long ago we first discovered, and 

 discovered in the company of some one whose society we cherished, may yield pleasure to 

 any one. Thus we would offer encouragement to the young botanist, by the assurance 

 that the road is not so hilly as it appears to be, and that it is rendered shorter by the 

 snatches of pleasure which fall to the lot of the anxious traveller. 



There have been, and still are, various modes of classification ; and since all depend 

 upon the selection of certain parts of plants as their basis, it cannot surprise us that 

 they should be held in various degrees of estimation. 



A prime consideration, in the selection of distinguishing characters, is, that those 

 characters shall be constant, and not greatly influenced by accidental circumstances. 

 Such a condition, if it exist at all, can only belong to those parts which are essential to 

 plants. These essential parts are connected with the function of reproduction, and have 

 been referred to in every system of classification ; but as nature does not slavishly follow 

 the path which she herself has marked out, we meet with occasional variety even here. 

 The flower would naturally attract attention ; and in the earlier attempts at classifica- 

 tion, its permanent parts, the stamen and pistils, were exclusively selected. This was 

 called the sexual system ; and was first pointed out by our renowned countryman, Grew, 

 in the seventeeth century, and a century later was perfected by Linnaeus. 



This one prime principle of constancy, then, was that upon which the Linnsean 

 system was founded, and to which it still owes its continued existence. The system is, 

 moreover, very simple in its arrangement, and therefore has been at all times in favour 

 with beginners, and with all those who have not cared to drink deeply of the Pierian 

 spring ; and, in spite of its insufficiency, it will doubtless be handed down to succeeding 

 generations. 



A perfect classification, however, demands more than mere constancy; and it is in 

 these further requirements that the Linnaean system has been found wanting. It is 

 necessary that no violence be offered to that uniformity of organization which is well 

 known to exist in the vegetable kingdom, so that plants evidently widely dissimilar 

 shall not be grouped together. Again, since all plants have qualities which are bene- 

 ficial or prejudicial to the health of man or animals, and since these qualities are known 

 to be associated with certain similarities of organization, it is demanded that plants of 

 greatly dissimilar properties shall not be classified together. These two last require- 



