INTRODUCTION. 
xi 
The foregoing is what is termed the artificial system of Lin- 
naeus ; to this it has been objected that notwithstanding the 
extreme simplicity of tliis artificial arrangement, it is con- 
tinually necessary to leave the organs upon which it depends 
out of consideration in determining the locality of plants; but 
it is much easier to cavil at a system, than to invent a better ; 
Linnseus himself was aware of the difficulties attending an 
artificial arrangement, and he therefore studied with the great- 
est assiduity the natural affinities of plants, for the formation 
of a natural classification, depending on these affinities, resem- 
blances, or other external characters or habits of the vegetable 
world. On these principles Linnaeus divides vegetables into 
fifty-eight natural classes or orders as follows : 
1. Palmce. These are perennial, and 
mosllj trees or shrubs, as the 
phnsnix, &c. 
2. Piperita. Peppers; mostly herba- 
ceous and perennial, as the 
arum, &c. 
3. Calamarite, Reeds. 
4. Gramina. Grasses. 
5. Tripetaloidea-, have no very striking 
character, but are nearly al- 
lied to the grasses, as the 
butomns, &c. 
6. EnsatcB. Sword-like plants, as the 
saffron, iris, &c. 
7. Orchidea. The orchis tribe 
8. Scitaminece, are all natives of warm 
climates, as the amomum, or 
ginger ; the musa, or plantain, 
&c. 
9. Spathacea, are distinguished from the 
liliaceous plants, to which 
they are nearly allied, by the 
spathia, out of which their 
flowers ate protruded, as the 
allium, amaryilis, &c. 
10. Goronarim, are herbaceous, perennial, 
and from one inch to fifteen 
feet high. The roots are 
either bulbous, fibrous, or 
composed of small fleshy 
knobs, jointed at the top. 
The hyacinths and lilies be- 
long to this order. 
11. Sarmentalfce, have climbing stems 
and branches, by which they 
attach themselves to other 
bodies for support. 
12. HoleracecB, contains trees, shrubs and 
herbs, annual and perennial ; 
chiefly for domestic purposes, 
as the beet, rhubaib, &cc. 
13. Succuhntee. Consists of flat, fleshy, 
and juicy plants, most of 
them evergreens, 
14. Gruinales. Cranelike, consists of a 
geranium, and a few other 
plants allied to it in habit 
15. Inundates, aquatic plants ; low, her- 
baceous, and mostly perennial, 
as hippuris, elatine, &c. 
16. Ca?yc(^or<8, have the stamina inserted 
into the calyx, and are all 
of the shrub or tree kind. 
17. CalycanthenuB, have the corolla and 
stamina inserted into the 
calyx, as the epilobium, lyth- 
rum, &c. 
18 Bicornes. Plants whose antherae have 
the appearance of two horns. 
Of these are the heaths. 
19. Hesperideee, are of the shrub and tree 
kind, and mostly evergreen, 
as the myrtle, clove tree, &c. 
20 Rotaceee. Plants with one wheel- 
shaped petal without a tube, 
as the phlox, cistus, hyperi- 
cum, &§. 
21. Preciee, from precius, early, the 
primrose and some other early 
flowering \)lants which agree 
with it in habit. 
22. Caryophjlkce. The pink, carnation, 
and plants of that description. 
23. TrihiltitCB. Plants with three seeds, 
marked with an external cica- 
trix where the3^are fastened 
within to the fruit, as the 
acer, &c. 
24. Corydales, have irregular flowers 
somewhat resembling a hel- 
met, as the balsam, fama;ia, 
&c. 
