CHAPTER XVI 
MONOCOTYLEDONS 
155. Classification.—The Angiosperms are so numerous 
that it requires much time through several seasons to get 
acquainted fairly well with them in any one neighborhood. 
The elementary student should begin at once to cultivate 
this acquaintance by learning to recognize the most promi- 
nent groups and the most common representatives of each 
group. For example, there should be no difficulty usually 
in recognizing whether a given plant is a Monocotyledon ora 
Dicotyledon; since the floral number, the venation, and the 
stem arrangement of vascular bundles will determine that 
in most cases. 
In each of these two great divisions of Angiosperms, 
however, there are numerous families, and one should be- 
come acquainted early with the most conspicuous families 
of a neighborhood. For example, a very conspicuous 
family of the Monocotyledons in every neighborhood is 
that which contains the grasses; but in every neighbor- 
hood there will occur also ten to twenty other prominent 
families of Angiosperms that deserve recognition. 
A family is made up of smaller groups called genera 
(singular genus). For example, in the great family to 
which the asters belong, the different asters resemble 
one another more than they do any other members of the 
family; and so there is the aster genus. In the same family 
the different goldenrods are grouped together in a golden- 
rod genus. The different kinds of aster or of goldenrod 
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