294 



that's it ; 



Cryptogamia, is subdivided according to the 

 families of which it is composed. Example : — 



Monogynia Digynia (gynd, a 



woman) .... 1 and 2 pistils 

 Monogynia Digynia Trigynia 1,2,3 do. 



The natural system: differs 

 from the preceding, and takes 

 into account the whole organiza- 

 tion of the plant, with its habits 

 and properties, and is not re- 

 stricted to one or two particular 

 features. It requires that all 

 points of resemblance between 

 the various parts, properties, and 

 qualities of plants shall be taken 

 into consideration, and those 

 placed together which have the 

 greatest degree of similarity in all 

 leading respects. 



Under this system all plants 

 are arranged in one of two great 

 divisions : I. Vasculares (vas, 

 a vessel ; plants with woody fibre 

 and cellular tissue). II. Cellu- 

 lares (cellula, a little cell ; plants 

 with cellular tissue only, without 

 wood). It is easy to tell to 

 which of these two great divi- 

 sions any plant should be al- 

 lotted. But to be able to assign 

 plants to their proper classes, 

 orders, and genera, under the 

 natural system requires the study 

 of vegetable physiology, and the 

 contemplation of all the parts 

 and functions of plants : a great 

 study, but deeply interesting. 



Upon the relative advantages of these sys- 

 tems, Dr. Linley thus expresses himself :— " It 

 must be obvious that such a method possesses 

 great superiority over artificial systems, like 

 that of Linneaus, in which there is no combina- 

 tion of ideas, but which are mere collections of 

 isolated facts, having no distinct relation to each 

 other. The advantages of the natural system, 

 in applying botany to useful purposes, are im- 

 mense, especially to medical men, who depend 

 so much upon the vegetable kingdom for their 

 remedial agents. A knowledge of the proper- 

 ties of one plant enables the practitioner to 



judge scientifically of the qualities of other 

 plants naturally allied to it ; and therefore the 

 physician, acquainted with the natural system 

 of botany, may direct his inquiries when on 

 foreign stations, not empirically, but upon fixed 

 principles, into the qualities of the medicinal 

 plants which have been provided in every region 

 for the alleviation of the maladies peculiar to it. 

 He is thus enabled to read the hidden characters 

 with which nature has labelled all the hosts of 

 species that spring from her teeming bosom." 



Besides the pleasing peculia- 

 rities of individual flowers, there 

 are points of equal interest at- 

 taching to the character of the in- 

 florescence of different plants. The 

 flowers are, in many cases, sup- 

 ported upon a stalk or flower-stem, 

 9, which, when it proceeds direct 

 from the ground, and supports 

 the flowers without intermediate 

 leaves, like the cowslip, primrose, 

 dandelion, &c, 

 is called the 

 scape. When 

 short and 

 smaller stems 

 intervene be- 

 tween the 

 flowers and the 

 stem, they are 

 called pedicels, 

 10. When the 



732. 



flowers are borne upon an elon- 

 gated branch of the plant, it is 

 called a peduncle, 11, and the 

 flowers are said to be peduncled. 

 When the flowers are arranged 

 around a 

 simple 

 axis, or ; 

 stem, 12, 

 each par- 

 t i cular 

 flower 

 having a 

 smaller pedicel or stalk, the 

 group constitutes a raceme, or 

 panicle, 14. Sometimes these 



