KEY TO THE NATURAL OKDERS. 



] Plants developing true flowers and multiplying by pro- 

 ducing seeds •. 2. Ph^neeogams. 



Reproductive organs not assuming the typical floral 



design, forming seeds upon scaly bracts, often in cones... (p. 275.) Gymnosperms. 

 Flowerless; reproducing by means of spores 161. Ckyptogams. 



2. Parts of flowers seldom in threes or multiples of that 



number (except Elatine and Euphorbia), sometimes col- 

 lected into cones; leaves usually with netted veins, 



and seldom with a sheathing base (except Epacridacece). 3. Dicottledons. 



Parts of flower usually 3 or 6, if fewer or obscure sur- 

 rounded by more or less unequal scarious glumes, never 

 in cones. Leaves generally with parallel veins and 

 sheathing bases (except many OrcTiids) 147. Monocottledons. 



3. Flowers small or minute, few or more often numerous, in 



a dense head surrounded by bracts. Stamens (except in 



Xanthium) united in a tube round the style xl. Composite. 



Flowers seldom in dense heads, and when so disposed the 

 stamens are free from one another 4. 



4. Herbaceous, mostly annuals 5. 



Trees, shrubs, undershrubs, or climbers, with at least a 



woody axis, sometimes reduced to dwarf (almost herba^ 



eeous) forms 79. 



5. Leaves, all or most, alternate, radical or none 6. 



Leaves, all or most, opposite orwhorled 54. 



6. Flowers with a distinct calyx and corolla 8. 



Calyx and corolla, though present, obscurely distinct ... 7. 



Flowers with only one floral envelope, which may be 



coloured like a corolla or green and obscure, or without 



any floral envelope at all 39. 



7. Petals irregular, partially united ; calyx reduced to 2 



small scales iv. Fv/nmria. 



Calyx petaloid, irregular; petals smaller, reduced ix. Polygala,peoe. 



8. Petals quite free from one another 9. 



Petals slightly or distinctly joined 24. 



9. Corolla quite regular 10. 



Petals not all similar to one another in size and shape ... 21. 



10. Petals inserted on the top of the flower-stalk, below the 



ovary, or on the calyx, near the base 11. 



Petals inserted above the ovary or on the floral-tube, at 

 a considerable distance from the base 18. 



11. Stamens very numerous 12. 



Stamens usually 5 to 10 16. 



12. Pistil formed of many distinct carpels ; leaves divided 



into distinct or nearly distinct leaflets or segments ... 13. 



Pistil entire; leaves lobed or entire 14. 



13. Sepals usually soon falling ; petals and stamens free from 



the calyx i. Banuncvlacece. 



Sepals persistent ; petals and stamens inserted on the 

 calyx, close to its base xxvi. Bosacem. 



14. Stamens dark, free from one another; stigmas forming 



a disk at the top of the ovary iv. PapaveracecB. 



Stamens pale, united in a central column, or in a tube 

 round the style; style distinct xv. Malvaceae. 



16. Calyx of 5 free sepals ; stamens and pistil in the same 



flower Ig 



