HOW TO USE THE KEY AND FLORA 
In order to determine an unknown species, the student is 
first to make a careful examination of the plant in hand. 
After noting in a general way the appearance of the root, 
stem, and leaf, including a cross section of the stem, he 
should study the number of the parts of the flower, then 
make and draw a cross section and a lengthwise section of it. 
The kind of symmetry of the calyx and corolla, peculiarities 
in the shape, structure, or operation of the essential organs, 
such, for instance, as anthers discharging through chinks in 
the end, should be noted. 
Next, the inquirer should look carefully through the key 
to the families. He is first to decide whether the plant in 
question is a Gymnosperm or an Angiosperm; if not a conif- 
erous tree or shrub, it will of course belong to the latter 
division. He is then to settle the question whether it is a 
Monocotyledon or a Dicotyledon; then under what division 
of the group the plant comes; and, finally, to decide upon its 
family. 
Turning now to the page at which the family is described, 
a rapid inspection of the characteristics of the genera will 
make it evident to which one the species under examination 
belongs. It may not infrequently prove that none of the 
genera described agree with the plant studied, and in that 
case the student must either consult a larger flora or rest 
satisfied with having determined the family to which his 
specimen belongs. The identification of the species, after 
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