SYNOPSIS 



NATURAL ORDERS OP BRITISH PLANTS. 



This Synopsis has been prepared for the purpose of facilitating 

 the discovery of the Order to which an unknown British plant 

 belongs. It must he lised with caution, as a very slight error jvill 

 totally mislead. The student must always commence with the 

 pair of characters numbered 1 in the left-hand margin ; and 

 haying determined with which of these his plant agrees, proceed 

 similarly with the group of characters referred to by the num- 

 ber on the right-hand side of the page, and so on. 



For instance, having gathered a Hawthorn, he finds it to agree 

 with the second character of number 1, the _first of number 3, 

 the second of number 4, the third of number 29, and the _^rsi of 

 number 30. It therefore belongs to Order xxvi. EosACE.a! and 

 Suborder Pomb.S). Then turning to the body of the Manual 

 (p. 95), he will examine the specimen by the characters given 

 for that Order and its Suborder. Finding it to agree with them, 

 a perusal of the generic definitions placed under Pomb.«! will 

 show that it is a, Crateegus. After a little experience in the 

 examination of plants, the eye becomes so familiar with the 

 principal Orders as to render this process uimecessary, except 

 in doubtful cases. Often more convenience will be found in 

 the use of the Linnean Synopsis, where the Hawthorn belongs 

 to Class xii. Icosandria, from having 20 or more stamens 

 inserted on the calyx ; and as the whole group belongs to the 

 Natural Order RosAOB.ffi;, that is again referred to for the 

 generic character. 



