SYSTEMS OP CLASSIFICATION 17 



quent botanists, the LiniiEeau System, in aU its essential charac- 

 ters, was that devised by Linnseus himself ; and although now 

 superseded by natural systems, it wOl be advisable for us to give 

 a general sketch of its principal characteristics. 



The classes and orders in the Linnaean System are taken ex- 

 clusively from the sporophylls ; as these were considered to be 

 the sexual organs of the plant, this artificial scheme is commonly 

 termed the Sexual System. 



The table (pp. 14 and 15) of the Classes and Orders of the 

 Liimean System will show at a glance their distinctive cha- 

 racteristics. 



Section 2. — Natural Systems of Classification. 



The first attempt at arranging plants according to their 

 natural affinities was by our celebrated countryman, John Eay, 

 in the year 1682 ; and imperfect as any scheme must necessarily 

 have been at that day, when the number of plants known was 

 very limited, still his arrangement was in its leading divisions 

 correct, and has formed the foundation of all succeeding systems. 

 He divided plants thus : — 



1. Flowerless. 



2. Flowering ; these being again subdivided into 



a. Dicotyledons. 

 h. Monocotyledons. 



Eay still further grouped plants together into genera, which were 

 equivalent to our natural orders, many of which indicated a true 

 knowledge of natural affinities, and are substantially represented 

 at the present day by such natural orders as the Fungi, Musoi, 

 Filices, Coniferae, Labiatte, Compositse, Umbelliferse, and Legu- 

 minos^. 



Tournefort, who flourished in France and was a contemporary 

 of Bay, was the first botanist to define genera as we now accept 

 them. 



Next in order was the scheme propounded by the celebrated 

 author of the most perfect artificial system ever devised for the 

 arrangement of plants, namely, Linnaeus, who, about the year 

 1751, drew up a sketch of the natural affinities of plants under 

 the name of Fragments. Many of the divisions thus prepared by 

 Linnaeus are identical with natural orders as at present defined, 

 among which we may mention Orchideae, Gramina, Compositae 

 (nearly), UmbeUatse, Asperifolia, Papilionaoeae, Filices, Musci, 

 and Fungi. 



VOL. II. c 



