158 



PHYTOGPvAPHY. 



tial parts and their relations, that nothing shall be omitted, 

 which is necessary for a complete representation of the pecu- 

 liarities of the plant. Superficial descriptions, — of which 

 kind were those given by the first writers on botany, — ^have 

 for the most part a reference only to what was most striking 

 in the general habit of the plant, — to its obvious colours, its 

 size, and other properties, sometimes merely accidental. It 

 is often very difficult to guess from such descriptions, what is 

 the plant which the writer had in view. This difficulty is so 

 much the greater in the old writers, because their variable 

 nomenclature, and the distance of the countries, whose plants 

 are described, also prevent us from forming a correct judg- 

 ment. 



245. 



But descriptions may also be too full, when they express 

 common properties and such as belong to many species, or 

 when they dwell too much on the peculiarities of unessential 

 parts. In this case, the reader of such descriptions is per- 

 plexed by their too great exactness : he knows not in the end 

 which among the innumerable marks is the most distinguished, 

 and which are those that deserve most attention. To maintain 

 the happy middle course between too great circumstantiality, 

 and too rapid brevity, requires the union of an acute talent 

 for observation, genius, and sound judgment, — talents which 

 are seldom acquired, but are commonly innate, and which 

 constitute the proper botanical genius. Placing in the back 

 ground, or neglecting properties of less importance, we give 

 a prominent place to those which are subservient to the know- 

 ledge and discrimination of plants. Such descriptions are al- 

 ways the most instructive ; but when a person has no other 

 view, but that of delineating one plant, he is very apt to be 

 led into a useless prolixity. 



246. 



The order in which parts are described, is that pointed 

 out by their growth. But we often begin with the general 

 aspect (habitus), in order to present the image of the plant 



2 



