216 



ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



261. Grouping of Families. — Families are assembled into 

 classes, and these again into larger groups. The details of 

 the entire plan of classification are too complicated for any 

 but professional botanists to master, but an outline of the 

 scheme may be given in small space. 



The entire vegetable kingdom is divided into two great 

 series, the first consisting of cryptogamous or flowerless 

 plants, the second of phanerogamous or flowering plants. 

 Here the relations of the various subdivisions may best be 

 shown by a table.^ 



262. Table of the Classification of the Vegetable Kingdom. 



Series I. 



Cryptogamous or 



Flowerless 



Plants 



Series II. 



Phanerogamous or 



Flowering 



Plants ^ 



Group I. 



Thallophytes, or 



leafless cellular 



cryptogams 



Group II. 



B R r o p H Y' T E s , or 



moss-like plants 



Group III. 



Pteeidopiiytes, or 



fern-like plants. 



Consists of about ten 

 classes, among the most 

 familiar members of 

 which are the seaweeds, 

 yeasts, mildews, moulds, 

 toadstools, lichens, etc. 



Consists of two classes, 

 the liverworts and the 

 mosses. 



Consists of three classes, 

 the ferns, the horsetails, 

 and the lycopodiums. 



Class I. 

 Gyjinosperms, or conebearers, such as pines, 

 spruces, cedars, and many other evergreen trees. 

 Sub-Class I. 

 Monocotyledonous 

 Plants. 



Sub-Class II. 

 Dicotyledonous Plants. 



Class II. 



Angiosperms, or 



ordinary flowering 



plants. 



1 This is, of course, only for consultation, and not to be committed to memory by 

 the student. 



2 The teaclier will notice that this table is carried out a little more in detail than 

 that of Series I, since its subject-matter is inori' familiar and the number of classes 

 of phanerogams is so much smaller than that of cryptogams. 



