— 
ares 
any rate they can never be depended on for specific distinctions. In 
general, spring flowers may be said to blow in March, April, or May, in 
the south of England ; summer flowers in June, July, or part of August ; 
autumnal ones in the end of August, September, or part of October. 
After the middle of October, and until the beginning of March, there 
are but few besides occasional stragglers in flower; towards the north 
the flowering season is much shorter, and particularly the early flowers 
open later. 
Observations on varieties, &c., are reserved for the conclusion of the 
paragraph. The plants described as species in other ‘‘ British Floras,” 
and not adopted as such in the present work, are mentioned or referred 
to either in these concluding observations or among the synonyms 
immediately under the specific name above referred to. All other 
species inserted in the above works and not included or alluded to in 
the present one, are omitted, because they are believed not to bavi 
wild i in the British Isles. 
ARRANGEMENT OF TEXT. lxili 
IV. ANALYTICAL KEY TO THE NATURAL ORDERS AND 
ANOMALOUS GENERA OF THE BRITISH FLORA. 
The heads of division adopted in the following Key are necessarily 
artificial, being solely intended to assist the beginner in finding out the 
name of his plant, and its place in the system, like the letters of the 
alphabet in an index. They are not classes or groups of Orders, for the 
same Order will be found repeated under different heads, At the same 
time, it has been the endeavour so to frame them as to call the student’s 
attention to some of the most prominent characters of the great 
natural divisions. 
I, FLOWERING PLANTS. 
Flowers compound, consisting of several florets in a common 
involucre, without separate calyces. Anthers united in a 
cylinder round the Style . 2 
Flowers distinet, or if in a head, having the anthers free . 3 
Ovary and fruit containing a single seed, and appearing like a 
2, seed under the floret : . COMPOSITE (p. 222). 
Ovary and fruit 2-celled, with several seeds . JASIONE (p. 272). 
Perianth double, consisting of a calyx (sometimes reduced to 
a scarcely prominent ring) and a corolla : 4 
Perianth single (its segments all calyx-like, or all petal. like) or 
none : : =; 85 
Corolla consisting of several distinct petals 5 
Corolla of one piece, the petals united, at least at the base 8 
Ovary free, within or above the petals j 6 
5+ Ovary. inferior, adherent to the base of the calyx, and below 
the petals : 46 
Ovaries several in the same flower, the carpels distinct or deeply 
64 divided 7 
Ovary solitary (simple or compound) entire or slightly divided 9 
