LINNAEUS 55 



are based on the number of stamens only, i, 2, 3, and 

 so on up to 10 ; class n has 12 stamens ; class 12 has 

 more than 12 attached to the calyx, while class 13 has 

 more than 12 attached to the receptacle. Then follow 

 two classes, the first with didynamous, the second with 

 tetradynamous stamens. Class 16 has all the stamens 

 united by their filaments ; class 17 has them united in 

 two bundles ; 18, in several bundles ; 19, of plants having 

 stamens united by their anthers ; 20 has stamens and 

 styles united ; 21 and 1 22 have stamens and carpels in 

 separate flowers, on the same or on different plants 

 respectively ; 23, which Linnaeus calls " Polygamia," 

 has stamens and carpels separate in some flowers and 

 united in others on the same or on two or three different 

 plants. The 24th class, Cryptogamia, includes the 

 entire host of lower forms from ferns and club mosses 

 downwards, as well as some Phanerogams in which 

 Linnaeus could find neither stamens nor carpels. 



I need not, I feel sure, go further ; if you really desire 

 to appreciate the utterly retrograde nature of the system, 

 all you need do is to take your Flora and write down 

 under any one of these class headings the names of all 

 the British plants you can find with the corresponding 

 number of stamens, and then see for yourselves into 

 what chaos the whole phylogenetic system is thrown. 

 I shall be astonished if you do not agree with one recent, 

 writer who says that Linnaeus retarded progress in the 

 attainment of a true natural classification of plants for 

 nearly a century. How, then, can we account for the 

 success of his system ? In the first place it was delight- 

 fully simple and easy to work with, a sort of glorified 

 city directory. Then again most botanical students of 

 that period were inclined to hail with acclamation any 

 scheme that saved them the trouble of thinking for 

 themselves and deciding on the rival merits of the 

 systems put forward by Morison, Ray, Rivinus, Tourne- 

 fort, and others who were still groping for the true key to 



