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1583. The introduction, of thirty pages, is a general discourse 

 on plants. Woody plants and herbs are fundamental groups, 

 he says, because taking food up through the stem is the first 

 function of plants. The second function is reproduction, there- 

 fore fruit and seed characters should be considered next. 



Lobelius, of Lille, distinguished groups by leaves, and thus 

 roughly separated dicotyledons and monocotyledons. 



Seventeenth Century 



The important work, Pinax Theatri Botanici (1623), by Gas- 

 pard Bauhin, of Basel, described more than six thousand species 

 of plants, many more than any previous book. Genera are 

 named with synonyms, without being characterized. Species 

 are tersely described: root, leaves, flowers, fruit and seed in 

 order. There are no larger groups, but the arrangement implies 

 a classification: such groups as grasses, lilies, shrubs and trees, 

 and seaweeds are kept together. Corals and sponges are still 

 classed as plants. 



The Isagoge Phytoscopia by Joachim Jung, of Hamburg, was 

 published after his death. He was the first to state that woody 

 plants and herbs should not form a fundamental division. This 

 important point was ignored until the time of the Jussieus. 



The perfecting of the microscope and anatomical studies, begun 

 by Malpighi in Italy and Grew in England, prepared the way for 

 greatly improved systems. Grew called attention to the im- 

 portance of the number of cotyledons. Stamens are called the 

 attire, flowers the lodging and dining room of insects. Later he 

 said stamens are male organs. About the same time Camerarius 

 of Tubingen first conducted experiments proving that pollen is 

 needed to produce perfect seeds. His important work passed 

 almost unnoticed for a century. 



John Ray retained woody plants and herbs as main divisions, 

 although reprinting Jung's work in the preface to his great 

 Historia Plantarum. This work, the publication of which was 

 begun in 1686 (a year before Newton's Principia), was intended 

 to describe all plants known. Following Grew's suggestion he 



