Vlll PREFACE 



in sufficient detail to render the explanation of a 

 specimen clear. 



Another difference from many books on the morphol- 

 ogy of plants will be found in the fewness of technical 

 terms, only those in common use for descriptive purposes 

 being given. Special names, which like hesperidium 

 and caryopsis are peculiar to their Orders, are excluded, 

 because it is considered of more importance that the 

 student should recognize the real nature of the things 

 they designate as special forms of the standard types 

 than learn distinctive names for them. On the other 

 hand the distribution of fruits and seeds is treated more 

 fully, perhaps, than usual, especially as regards the part 

 played by colour. 



The internal structure and histology of plants is not 

 dealt with in this volume. 



Part II is an introduction to the classification of 

 flowering plants, and only those orders which are well 

 represented in the tropics, or are for other reasons 

 considered of sufficient importance, have been treated. 

 The plan followed has been to describe common, well- 

 known plants and deduce from them the characters of the 

 order. In the concluding chapter an indication, 'neces- 

 sarily imperfect because of the fewness of the orders 

 dealt with, is made of the grouping of the Natural 

 Orders, and stress is laid on the vegetative characters 

 distinguishing them. 



The illustrations have all been drawn specially for 

 this work. Fig. 3 shows an adaptation of an apparatus 

 designed by Dr. Detmer and sold by Messrs. Gallen- 

 kamp & Co., London. The inference drawn in the 

 text, that the maintenance of the same level in the tube 



