INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. liii 



The other, sinks into the earth, and bears the name of caudex 

 descendens ; this is formed by the rooting body, (or radicle.) 



For a classification of the diiferent species of fruits, the 

 reader is referred to Richard. 



The nses of fruits and seeds are too obvious, to dwell upon 

 at any length. Bread, for example, is prepared from the fari- 

 naceous albumen of the wheat : a variety of fleshy fruits, as 

 peaches, apples, &c. are of use in domestic economy. The 

 fleshy pericarp of the olive, (olea europasa,) yields a pure oil. 

 The fruits of the orange, and lemon contain citric acid, nearly 

 pure. The berries of the buck-thorn, (rhamnus catharticus,) 

 are strongly purgative: not to mention, at length, the carmi- 

 native seeds of the umbelliferous plants, the roasted seeds of 

 the coffee, &c. 



Of Botanical Classifications. 



Theophrastus,' was the first who wrote a particular treatise 

 on vegetables : but the science of botany, it may be said, did 

 not exist in his day. It was not until the sixteenth century 

 that Gessner, of Zurich, first demonstrated, that characters 

 taken from the flower and the fruit were the most important for 

 establishing a good classification. He also shewed, that 

 groups exist in vegetables, composed of several species, united 

 by common characters. Shortly after, Ceesalpinus, (born 

 1519,) of Arezzo, gave the model of the first botanical method ; 

 his species being arranged from a consideration of vegetable, 

 organic characters. Amongst the subsequent authors of 

 systems we may mention the Bauhins, Ray, Magnolius, Rivi- 

 nus, and Tournefort, Professor of Botany, at Paris, in the 

 reign of Louis XIV. 



Tournefort's system was succeeded by the artificial system of 

 Linngeus, published in 1734. The natural system, or method 

 of affinities was first sketched by Adanson. Bernard de 

 Jussieu pursued this subject. But it was reserved for his 

 nephew, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu to bring it nearer to 

 perfection. This system of Jussieu is founded not on the con- 

 sideration of a single organ ; but it regards the whole of the 



» Died B.C. 288. 



