1250 On the Position of the Composite and [D 
LaMaout and Decaisne have termed it a “ monotypic fam 
For to know one Labiate is to know all of them. The genera 
might be used as characterizing this family exclusively. The: 
other order, Boraginee, which has the same sort of a 
four-parted ovary, differs markedly in having regular flow 
In placing Labiatæ next to Composite in rank, it 
ply that in the Labiate we find, next to the Composite, the: 
highly organized family of plants. Their predominance 
ern Europe, where they have been subjected for so many c 
ries to such a fierce struggle for existence, may accou j 
measure for their peculiar development, and their ability to 
their own in the world. Their aggressive nature, too, 15. 
shown in the fact, that out of fifty genera known- 
America, nineteen of them, or more than one-third, have i 
duced species. ‘ 
Closely allied to the Labiatz, on the one hand, is the 
cee, and on the other the Boraginee. It is, of cours 
sible in this paper to indicate the position of all or 
many of the natural orders. Scrophularinee should, 
stand somewhere near Boraginez. 
Leaving now the Gamopetala, let us turn to the 
and examine some of the orders. Here again I w 
many things, and first of all dethrone Ranunculacee. 
by no means entitled to the first place in any system: 
seems to me that here the Leguminose, as most sp 
the first 
flowers of many of the Ranunculacee are of the sin 
with five petals, indefinite stamens and rany pistils i 
with ten stamens and the peculiar fruit known as à “è u 
modifications in the corolla have, of course, reference 
fertilization. Many of the species cannot produce any 
