INTRODUCTION XXXIX 



any fruit on our specimen, the short pod which is not flattened 

 but inflated, and contains a number of seeds, and the unnotched 

 petals suggest the genus Cochledria, the Scurvy-grass. On turning 

 to the description of this genus on p. 49 we find that it includes 

 three or four British species ; but that, among these, the stalked 

 deltoid leaves and egg-shaped pod show our specimen to be C. 

 ddnica, the Danish Scurvy-grass. 



By puzzling out every plant he meets with in this manner the 

 student fixes their distinctive structural characters in his mind, 

 and acquires a far more valuable knowledge of plants than he 

 would get by being told their names, by identifying them from 

 pictures, or by any artificial key. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE NATURAL 

 ORDERS 



Sub-ktngdom. Spermatophy les or Phanerogams. — Plants pro- 

 ducing flowers and seed. 



Division i. Angiosperms. — Plants having their ovules in 

 closed ovaries. 



Class i. Dicotyledons. — Plants having two cotyledons, 1 net- 

 veined leaves and floral leaves in whorls of 5, 4, or 2. (pp. 1- 

 456.) 



Sub-Class i. Polyp'etalce. — Having both calyx and corolla, 

 and the petals of the latter free. 2 (pp. 1-228.) 



Series i. Thalamiflorce. — Petals and stamens hypogynous; 

 oavry superior. 3 (pp. 1-107.) 



§ Ovary apocarpous 



Order i. Ranunculdcece (The Buttercup Family). — Except 

 Clematis, herbs with watery, generally acrid juice ; scattered 

 leaves ; sepals 3 or more ; petals usually 5 ; stamens usually 

 indefinite ; fruit of achenes or follicles ; with no cohesions in the 

 flower, (p. 1.) 



Order 2. Berberidece (The Barberry Fnmily). — Shrubs with 

 scattered leaves ; polysymmetric flowers ; sepals 6 — 9 ; petals 6 ; 

 stamens 6 ; opening by valves ; fruit berry-like. (p. 20.) 



1 Almost every character is in nature subject to exceptions ; thus the Oak has often three 

 cotyledons, the Dodder hardly a vestige of any. 



2 Flowers without corolla occur in Ranunculaceae, Cruciferae, Violaceae, Caryophylteceae, 

 Rosaceae, Saxifrageae, Halorageae, Lythraceas, Onagraceae. Petals more or less coherent 

 occur in Fumariaceas, Polygalaceae, Portulaceae, Tamaricineae, Malvaceae, Ilicfneae, Cras- 

 suliceae, and Cucurbitaceae. 



3 Stamens apparently springing from a perigynous disk in Castalia (NymphasaceaeX 



