DISTINCTIONS OF VEGETABLES. 25 



It may be observed of this class, that in all proba- 

 bility future botanists may find it necessary to remove 

 some of the genera now included in it : already it has 

 been discovered that the first expanded member of a 

 fern is different from the succeeding- leaves ; conse- 

 quently, if this be not a mistake, they should be 

 removed to the second class : and as a great majority 

 of acotyledonece have very small seeds, if seeds they 

 may be called, their evolved parts are extremely 

 minute, a circumstance which renders their classifi- 

 cation a task of some difficulty. 



Monocotyledones. Are such plants as rise with 

 only one seed-leaf. There is some obscurity about 

 this characteristic distinction. The first foliole or 

 member, called the cotyledon, is so much like the 

 perfect leaves in shape and texture, though not in 

 size, that there is room for doubt. If we take Pan- 

 cratium and Cocos as examples, it appears that the 

 first leaves of these plants are in fact real leaves, and 

 not cotyledons. The infant plant is nourished for some 

 considerable time by the albumen or kernel of the 

 seed, and, therefore, unexpanded cotyledons would 

 have been perhaps the most accurate distinction. 



Dicotyledones. Are plants furnished with two or 

 more seminal leaves, and which are expanded in the 

 air, as Brdssica*, or under the surface of the ground, 

 as Faba\. 



The annexed figures represent the germination of 

 the classes. 



* Cabbage. -f Garden bean. 



