4 



two classes Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons according as there are one 

 or two leaves in the embyro of the seed. There are certain other broadly- 

 marked distinctions very useful to a beginner, such as that Dicotyledons 

 have the leaves net veined, and the parts of the flowers in multiplies of two 

 or five, whilst in Monocotyledons the leaves have parallel venation little if 

 at all branching, and the parts of the flowers are in multiplies of three. These 

 two classes are again divided into several sub-classes, such as Gamopetalce y 

 which includes all Dicotyledonous plants which have the petals of the flower 

 less or more united ; and thus we reach an Order, which signifies an assemblage 

 of plants, having several well marked points of resemblance, as Leguminos® 

 which have the peculiar shaped corolla of the pea, and the fruit some form of 

 a pod. A genus is a still more restricted group of plants in which the 

 individuals resemble each. other still more closely have as we might say a well 

 marked family likeness, as the various buttercups of the genus Ranunculus, 

 This leads us to the last group of all, a species, which is a collection of 

 individuals resembling each other in all essential points, whilst yet retaining 

 a certain personality as the stalks of wheat or barley in a field. As the 

 tendency of nature is to merge and shade off one form into another without 

 any abrupt line of demarcation, so the exact value apportioned to certain 

 characters will vary with different views, hence the diversity of opinion as to 

 what constitutes a species, and as to what characters should be ignored and 

 which others raised to generic rank. What is regarded by one authority as 

 a good species would by another be looked upon as only a variety or the 

 deviation be passed over as even too trivial for remark. This accounts for 

 the initial letter or name, appended to the plant name, such as L. for Linneus 

 or D. C. for De Candolle, which signifies that the name is applied to the 

 plant answering the description of these botanists. This distinction is impera- 

 tively necessary for the accurate student, as unfortunately the same plant has 

 frequently been described, under diverse names, by different botanists un- 

 known to each other. The following table will serve to illustrate these 

 remarks by showing the classificatory position of the common daisy : — 

 Group . . . Phanerogamia 



Division . . . Angiospermse 

 Class . . . Dicotyledones 



Sub-class ... Gamopetalse 

 Order . . . Compositse 

 Genus . . . Bellis 



Species ... Perennis L. 



