THE ILLUSTRATED BOTANY. 



THE NATURAL SYSTEM OF BOTANY. 



IfUMBEK ONE. 



In attempting, through the pages of a periodical work, to 

 convey proper ideas of the Natural System, to afford such aid 

 to the learner as will enable him to understand its importance, 

 and for that purpose to overcome the difficulties by which it is 

 surrounded, the writer is conscious that he is engaging in a 

 task of considerable magnitude. He is not aware that a simi- 

 lar undertaking has yet been accomplished in this country. 

 In fact, except among botanists of high attainments, the Linnaean 

 System has here been the common, if not almost the exclusive 

 object of study. Little more has been published for the benefit 

 of the beginner in Systematic Botany, than the merest outline 

 of the Natural System, while many of those who pursue the 

 study as a recreation, or as a popular branch of knowledge, 

 seem to be nearly ignorant of the existence of a system different 

 from the Linnaean. Works there are, it is true, whose object is 

 expressly to afford elementary instruction on this subject, but 

 they are, so far as our observation has extended, mostly 

 foreign publications, and from their scarcity or expense, are out 

 of the reach of ordinary students. It has been considered, 

 therefore, (without offering further reasons,) that a monthly 

 series of articles, in a popular magazine, each of which may 

 easily be read and understood before the appearance of the 

 next, might be made serviceable to the learner, and might be 



