120 PBACTIGAL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS 



CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS 



It is a natural and almost unconscious process to place any two or 

 more plants similar in appearance and character into the same group 

 and say that they are more or less closely related, although they differ 

 from each other in minor details. This is practically classifying plants 

 according to their relationship to each other into natural groups, and by 

 such a process the gardener is enabled to deduce many points that may 

 be of importance to him in the actual work of cultivation. 



It would, for instance, be a very poor observer indeed who could not 

 see the difference between, say, a Buttercup and a Lily, but it might be 

 somewhat difficult for him to explain in words exactly the points where- 

 in they differ. Just imagine for a moment a person who had never 

 seen a Buttercup or a Lily asking what they were and how he was to 

 distinguish one from the other, and some idea will be gained as to the 

 difficulty in giving the information in such a way that the Buttercup 

 or Lily will not be mixed up with an Orchid, or a Eose, or a Tulip, or 

 any other plant. 



"When plants are so common that they are grown by almost every- 

 body, their general features or characteristics become impressed on the 

 mind, and the names which botanists have given them usually come 

 tripping off the tongue with ease. But when a strange plant appears 

 without a name, an effort is at once made, almost unconsciously, to place 

 it near some plant already known. The roots, stems, leaves, flowers 

 fruits &c. are carefully and critically examined and compared one by 

 one, and the plant is said to come near such and such a species but 

 differs from it in many respects. 



If the cultivator of such a plant has even only a slight knowledge 

 of the way in which plants have been grouped more or less naturally by 

 botanists, he may, by the aid of his books, run the unknovra plant very 

 close, if not quite, to its own group, from the characters he sees. But 

 if his books have the plants arranged simply in alphabetical order 

 according to their names and not according to their relationship, he 

 may as well give up his search at once, unless he has the time and in- 

 clination to wade through every name from A to Z. Indeed, descriptive 

 plant-books arranged in purely alphabetical order are only of value 

 when the proper name of the plant about which information is required 

 is already known. This is a sine qua non to the use of such books. 

 ' To call a Eose by any other name ' would in such cases probably lead 

 to unlooked-for and perhaps not altogether satisfactory results when the 

 cultural details came to be applied. 



