THE 
BRITISH 
H E R B A L. 
CLASS 1. 
plants whofe flower mififis of several petals*, with numerous threads 
i7i the ce7itre^ and is followed by a cluflerof naked seeds. 
^HIS is a clafs diftinguinied by natural and obvious charaflers ; and is proper for the 
ftudcnt's firft coniidci atiun, becaufe the flowers and feeds are confpicuous, and the parts 
ds^ few., largely and -plain. 
Mr. Ray eftablifhed ic as a clafs; and the regard he has fiiewn to the order of nature, 
in keeping thefe plants together, is a proof that his method, tho' plain and fimple, is in 
feme inftances, better founded than thofe built upon fmaller parts, and nicer diftinftions. 
Nature has joined no plants fo plainly together as thofe which conftitute this clafs : yet Morifon, 
Tournefort, and others, have diftributed them in various parts of their works ; and Linn;eus has 
united the greater part of them with many other plants not properly ally'd to them, under the 
denomination of polyandria ; a clafs altogether artificial, having but a mtfl:aken foundation in 
nature. 
This author in the feventh fedion includes, among what he calls polyajjdria polygyma, the crow- 
foot, which bears its feeds naked, and the hellebore, which has them included in pods. 
Nature feparates thefe plants, tho' Linnsus joins them. 
SERIES I. 
Natives of Britain- 
TH I S ferles includes all thofe genera, of 
which one or more fpecies are natives of 
our country. The fecond comprehends thofe 
only of which we have none naturaNy wild. 
To prevent the reparation of thofe plants 
which nature has joined in form, tho' divided 
in their place of growth, we fiiall, under each 
of the BritifK genera, after defcribing thofe fpe- 
cies which are natives here, add fuch as, for their 
ufe or beauty, have obtained a place in our gar- 
dens. But to prevent confufion or error, we 
fliall there arrange the fpecies dillindtly under two 
divifions, as we have here diflrributed the genera^ 
native, and foreign, under two y^nVj". 
N\ I; 
f The leaves which compofe a flower are called petal:, 
B 
GENUS 
