8 



often very appropriately bestowed, from some peculiar characteristic of the 

 plant. Take for instance the plants already cited, Chrysanthemum, the name 

 of the genus means the " yellow" or "golden flower," and many of the plants 

 are of this colour, whilst the most common British species, Leucanthemum, 

 meaning the " white flower," is appropriate enough to the ox-eye daisy, with 

 its large conspicuous spreading ray of white petals, as being the white flowered 

 individual amongst a yellow flowered family. In the same way Bellis, 

 signifying " beautiful," is applicable to the daisy, whilst perennis refers to its 

 duration, continuing to live on from year to year. 



Having drifted so far on this branch of the subject, it may be well to 

 explain in this connection the principle upon which plants are named, and 

 how they are arranged and grouped together ; also, the reason a plant has 

 two names, or, as we may say, a christian and surname. The immortal 

 Linneus may be regarded as the father of systematic botany, for he was the 

 first to attempt to evolve something like order out of the previous chaos of 

 plant names. As he took for the basis of his arrangement certain arbitrary 

 characters, chiefly the number and position of the parts of the flower alone, so 

 plants with no real affinity were often placed side by side in a strange medley. 

 This was known as the Linnean or artificial system, and, although now almost 

 obsolete, for a local or limited flora it was very useful, especially to a begin- 

 ner, enabling him readily to learn the name of a new plant, but conveying 

 little or no idea of the structure or affinity of the plant itself. Since the 

 times of Linneus, various attempts have been made to construct a more com- 

 prehensive and complete system of arrangement, and what is now known as 

 the Natural system is the result. This takes cognisance of all the parts of a 

 plant's structure, and groups together those having the greatest affinity or 

 mutual points of resemblance. Some modification of this system is now in 

 universal use, and by it all plants are primarily divided into two main groups, 

 viz. : Phanerogams, from phaneros, open, and gamos, a marriage, i.e. plants 

 having evident flowers, and which are reproduced by true seeds; and 

 Cryptogams, from Jcryptos s concealed, and gamos, marriage — including those 

 plants which bear no conspicuous flowers, and the reproduction of which is 

 comparatively obscure, to this latter class belong the ferns, mosses, fungi, 

 &c, and the study of which is only taken up by experts, for whom these 

 papers are not intended, so we may leave them on one side till we have over- 

 taken the Phanerogams. These again are ranged in two divisions, viz. : 

 Gymnosperm,e, those having their seeds naked or not enclosed in a seed- 

 vessel, represented in Britain by the pines and firs only ; and Angiosperm^e, 

 those having their seeds contained in an ovary or seed vessel, to which the 

 great bulk of our native plants belong. Angiosperms are again divided into 



