OUTLINES OF BOTANY. lit 
plant to determine, will first take the general table of Natural Orders, and 
examining his plant at each step to see which alternative agrees with it, 
will be led on to the Order to which it belongs, he will then compare it 
with the detailed character of the Order given in the text. If it agrees, 
he will follow the same course with the table of the genera of that Order 
to find the genus, and again with the key of the species of that genus to 
find the species. 
Suppose the plant to be a Dandelion, a Daisy, or a Thistle. On open- 
ing what appears to be the flower, we see at once that each part, which we 
may at first have taken for a petal, contains a separate style, and has a 
separate ovary (appearing like a seed) under it, but no separate calyx, all 
these florets being collected within a common involucre. The flower is 
therefore compound. Our attention is also called to the anthers. They 
may at first escape the beginner, but with a little care they will be dis- 
covered forming a ring round the style. We may then conclude that our 
plant agrees with the first alternative which refers to the second bracket. 
We must now look to the ovary under any one of the florets, eut it open, 
and, finding but a single ovule or seed, we are referred to the great Order 
of Composite. This second bracket is only necessary to exclude two or 
three Campanulacez (Phytewma and Jasionc), which have the united anthers 
and heads of flowers of Composite, but are most readily knewn by the 
numerous small ovules or seeds in their ovary or fruit. On turning to the 
description of the Order Composite, we are cautioned against confounding 
with them two or three other plants which have similar heads of flowers, 
and being satisfied we are right, we proceed in the same manner to find out 
the genus of our plant. 
Suppose the plant to be a Violet. Although the anthers are united in a 
ring, the flowers are quite separate, each with its own calyx, and we are 
referred by the second alternative to the third bracket, the double perianth 
refers us to the fifth, the free ovary to the sixth, the single ovary to the 
seventh, the irreeular corolla to the forty-first, the spur to one of the petals 
to the forty-second, the five stamens to the forty-third, under which the five 
sepals and petals indicate at once the genus Viola. We then compare our 
plant with the description of the genus in the Flora, before we proceed 
to ascertain the species. In making use of these descriptions, the beginner 
must be careful not to be misled by the popular meaning of terms to which 
a technical sense has been given by botanists, and in all cases of doubt he 
should refer to the definitions through the Index of Terms. 
After a little habit, this mechanical process will be much abridged. The 
great divisions of the general analytical table will be at once recognised, and 
very soon the large Orders and genera will become so familiar, that in most 
cases the amateur will only have to commence with them. Yet in all cases 
of doubt and hesitation, wherever the plant does not agree perfectly with 
the generic character and description, he must revert to the beginning, and 
carefully go through every step of the investigation before he can be satisfied. 
And notwithstanding the care that has been bestowed on the framing of 
the analytical keys of the present work, and the number of cases in which 
they have been verified, specimen in hand, through every stage, it cannot 
be hoped that they have been rendered go precise as to preclude doubt. 
The beginner especially will often be at a loss as to which alternative agrees 
the best with the plant he is examining, and one false step may lead him 
far away from the object he is secking. But let him not be discouraged ; 
