ARRANGEMENT OF TEXT. lxill 



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 grow 

 wild in the British Isles. 



IV. ANALYTICAL KEY TO THE NATUEAL 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 distinct, or if in a head, having the anthers free . . 3 

 ( Ovary and fruit containing a single seed, and appearing like a 

 2 -J 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 6 

 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 

 divided 9 

 Ovary solitary (simple or compound) entire or slightly divided 7 



