CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. 



The originator of the Natural System of Plants, as at present understood, was the 

 English naturalist, John Ray, who, in his ' Methodus Plantarum emendata et aucta,' 1 pub- 

 lished in 1703, established the great primary divisions of Flowering and Flowerless Plants, 

 and divided the former into Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, and this on a scientific basis. 

 In the same work Ray further classified all plants known to him, whether from specimens 

 or books (about 18,000), under genera, which, though imperfectly defined and limited, 

 are for the most part natural groups, and answer in many cases (as Cruciferce, Umbelliferce, 

 Coniferce, &c.) to the Natural Orders of Jussieu's method. Ray thus showed that he had a 

 very clear and correct appreciation of the subordination of all other characters to those of 

 the seed, in respect of the primary groups of the Vegetable Kingdom ; but he very imper- 

 fectly appreciated the subordination of the characters afforded by the floral whorls, in the 

 classification of his genera, and hence failed to complete even a rudimentary Natural 

 System. 



Antoine de Jussieu, when alluding to the crude efforts of Tournefort's predecessors 

 (in 1719), thus records his opinion of Ray's philosophical views of classification: 

 ' Johannes Raius hos inter celeberrimos, ac optime de re Herbaria in Anglia meritus, hujus 

 incommodi cavendi causa, non a floribus tantum fructibusve, sed etiam a foliorum, caulium, 

 radicumque tanquam partium organicarum figura earumque colore, odore, sapore, et totius 

 plantee facie exteriori sumenda esse genuine methodi principia affirmabat.' Judicinm de 

 Tournefortii Methodo, p. xiv. ; Institutiones, ed. iii. (posthuma), v. 1. 



In 1693 J. P. Tournefort, Professor of Botany at the Jardin des Plaiites, Paris, the 

 friendly rival and correspondent of Ray, first defined genera as now accepted. He did not, 

 however, recognize the great divisions of Ray, and his twenty-four classes are, like so 

 many of his genera, purely artificial combinations (see p. 162). 



Profitino- by the labours of Ray and Tournefort, Linnaeus, in 1735, established genera 

 on a scientific basis, with as clear a conception of the subordination of characters for this 

 purpose as Ray had for the establishment of higher combinations. He, however, like 

 Tournefort, failed to apply his principles to the formation of groups of a higher value than 

 modern genera, and to appreciate the importance of Ray's primary divisions of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom. As is well known, Linnaeus never regarded his sexual system as 

 other than artificial. His attempt to form a natural one resulted in his indicating, without 



1 In the first edition of the 'Methodus' (1682) Ray distinctio, eaque meo jure omnium prima et longe 

 enunciated his views in thu following terms : ' Ex hac optima.' p. 9. 

 seminum divifeione sumi potest generalis plantarum 



