MORPHOLOGY OF ANGIOSPERMS 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



Theee is a very large element of uncertainty in a presenta- 

 tion of the special morphology of Angiosperms, chiefly because 

 of the vast amount of unstudied material, but also because of 

 the inequality in the accuracy and definiteness of the work 

 done. However, the general outlines seem to be fairly well 

 established, and their filling in must long occupy morphologists. 



Although two very distinct groups of Angiosperms are 

 recognized, the Monocotyledons and the Dicotyledons, their es- 

 sential morphology is so similar that separate treatment would 

 involve needless repetition. The chief differences between them 

 have to do with the structure of the vegetative body of the 

 sporophyte. A general treatment of these differences is not 

 necessary in a book dealing with special morphology, for it 

 belongs to elementary instruction ; while a special treatment 

 would lead into the immense field of anatomy, which it is not 

 the purpose of this book to present. So far as anatomical 

 studies have a conspicuous bearing upon the phylogeny of the 

 great groups, they are presented by Professor E. C. Jeffrey 

 in the last two chapters. 



In contrasting Angiosperms with Gymnosperms, one is im- 

 pressed by the fact that a group of plants comprising more 

 than <ine hundred thousand known species can not be presented 

 with the same confidence and detail as can a group represented 

 by-a: scant four hundred species. And yet, what have been 

 agreed upon as the essential morphological features of these 

 groups appear to be more uniform in Angiosperms than in 

 Gymnosperms. In our treatment of the latter group, the great 



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