NATURAL HISTORY 



Gramen Xerampelino, Miliacea, praetenuis ramo- 

 saque spars a panicula, sive Xerampelino congener, ar- 

 vense, astivum; gramen minutissimo semine. Linnaeus 

 gave to this plant the name Poa bulbosa a name that 

 sufficed, according to the new system, to distinguish 

 this from every other species of vegetable. It does not 

 require any special knowledge to appreciate the ad- 

 vantage of such a simplification. 



While visiting Paris in 1738 Linnaeus met and 

 botanized with the two botanists whose "natural 

 method " of classification was later to supplant his own 

 "artificial system." These were Bernard and Antoine 

 Laurent de Jussieu. The efforts of these two scien- 

 tists were directed towards obtaining a system which 

 should aim at clearness, simplicity, and precision, and 

 at the same time be governed by the natural affinities 

 of plants. The natural system, as finally propounded 

 by them, is based on the number of cotyledons, the 

 structure of the seed, and the insertion of the stamens. 

 Succeeding writers on botany have made various mod- 

 ifications of this system, but nevertheless it stands as 

 the foundation-stone of modern botanical classifica- 

 tion. 



