REVIEW AND CONCLUSION - 415 



oblong leaflets, especially if every part has a pul- 

 vinus, belong to the MIMOSE^ or to the C.ESAL- 

 PINE.E ; all herbs with pinnate or trifoliate leaves and 

 pulvinus to the PAPILIONACE^E ; and further all twin- 

 ing plants with pinnately trifoliate leaves provided 

 with a pulvinus to the PHASEOLUS section of the last 

 named family. Most twining plants with opposite sim- 

 ple leaves and sticky latex belong to the ASCLEPIA- 

 DACE^E, those with alternate smooth leaves to the 

 CONVOLVULACE^E, those with rough angular leaves and 

 tendrils to the CUCURBITACEJE. Herbs or shrubs with 

 decussate scented, but not gland dotted leaves, belong 

 mostly to the LABIATES, those with swollen nodes and 

 no scent, to the ACANTHACE^E. A tree with pinnately 

 compound leaves and leaflets unsymmetrical at the 

 base is probably one of the MELIACE^E; if with latex 

 and ring-stipules one of the FICUS group (Banyan, 

 etc.) of the URTICACE^. A succulent with latex and 

 pairs of thorns is almost sure to be an EUPHORBIA. 

 Many other cases of close resemblance in the vege- 

 tative parts accompanying resemblances in the flowers 

 could be mentioned. 



It is this general similarity between the genera 

 of a family which alone justifies us m calling it 

 a Natural Order. The vegetative characteristics are 

 therefore very important, and must not be neglected 

 by a student of systematic botany; and they may 

 enable him to determine the order of a plant, when 

 no flowers or fruit are available. 



Looking back on the orders we have studied we 

 find that they too fall into fairly well-defined families. 

 Thus the RANUNCULACE.E and ANONACE^E are alike 



