BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION. 335 



674. Their essential characters are not indicated by their 

 names : the former merely denoting that the stamens are twenty 

 in number ; the latter, that they are numerous. The two fol- 

 lowing classes depend upon the relative length of the stamens, 

 namely : 



14. DIDYNAMIA, including those with two long and two short stamens, 

 as in the majority of flowers with bilabiate corolla. 



16. TETRADYNAMIA, those with four long and two short stamens, as in 

 flowers with cruciferous corolla. 



675. These names signify in the former that two stamens, and 

 in the latter that four stamens, are most powerful. The four 

 succeeding are founded on the connection of the stamens, viz. : 



16. MONADELPHIA (meaning a single fraternity), with the filaments 



united in a single set, tube, or column, as in the Mallow. 



17. DIADELPHIA (two fraternities), with the filaments united in two 



sets or parcels, as in Corydalis and in many Leguminosae. 



18. POLYADELPHIA (many fraternities), with the filaments united in 



more than two sets or parcels, as in Hypericum. 



19. SYNGENESIA (from Greek words signifying to grow together), 



with the anthers united in a ring or tube, as in the Sunflower 

 and all Compositae. 



676. The next class, as its name denotes, is founded on the 

 union of the stamens to the style : 



20. GYNANDRIA, with the stamens and styles consolidated, as in Cypri- 



pedium and all the Orchis Family. 



677. In the three following classes, the stamens and pistils 

 occupy separate blossoms : 



21. MONCECIA (one household) includes all plants where the stamens 



and pistils are in separate flowers on the same individual ; as in 

 the Oak and Chestnut. 



22. DICECIA (two households), where they occupy separate flowers on 



different individuals ; as in the Willow, Poplar, Moonseed, &c. 



23. POLYGAMIA, where the stamens and pistils are separate in some 



flowers and associated in others, either on the same or two or 

 three different plants ; as in most Maples. 



678. The remaining class is essentially flowerless ; or rather its 

 organs of reproduction are more or less analogous to, but not 

 homologous with, stamens and pistils. But, although Linnaeus 

 suspected a sexuality in Ferns, Mosses, Algae, &c., there was no 

 proof of it in his day. So he named the class, containing these, 



24. CRYPTOGAMIA, meaning clandestine marriage, the sexes, if existent, 



hidden from view. 



679. The characters of the classes may be presented at one 

 view, as in the subjoined table : 



