PREFACE. IX 



class and order are ascertained. If this argument 

 were conducted, as in strictness it ought to he, with 

 reference to the whole Vegetable Kingdom, it would 

 be easy to shew that the student had in fact gained 

 almost nothing that is of use to him ; but, in order to 

 give the friends of the Linnean system every advan- 

 tage in the discussion, we will confine the inquiry to 

 the few hundred plants which grow wild in England. 

 For this purpose take the generic characters in Dian- 

 dria Monog}Tiia, as stated in Dr. Hooker's British 

 Flora, a work in which the subject is treated with all 

 the skill and perspicuity of which it is susceptible, 

 and in which the Linnean system is seen to the 

 greatest advantage. The characters are these : — 



• Perianth double, inferior, monopetalous, regular. 



1. LiGUSTRUM. Linn. Privet. — Cor. four-cleft. Berry two-celled, 

 with the cells two-seeded. 



*• Perianth double, inferior, monopetalous, irregular. Seeds enclosed 

 in a distinct pericarp ( Angiospermous). 



2. Veronica, Linn. Speedwell. — Cor. four-cleft, rotate, lower seg- 

 ment narrower. Caps, two-celled. 



3. PiNGUicuLA, Linn. Butterwort. — Cal. two-lipped, upper lip of 

 three, lower of one bifid segment. Cor. ringent, spurred. Germen 

 globose. Stigma large, of two unequal plates or lobes. Capsule, one- 

 celled, with the seeds attached to a central receptacle. 



4. Utricllaria, Z-iH/i. Bladderwort. — Ca^. two-leaved, equal. Cor. 



