THE 
BRITISH HERBAL. 
C L A S S V. 
Plants whofe flower confifts of a single petal of an irregular form^ and 
whofe feeds are contained in a single capsule, 
Tins, like the preceding, is a clafs perfeftly and obvloufly diftingulfhed by nature from 
all others ; yet, Linnaeus, who has for fome years led the botanical ftudents according to 
his fancy, has difpofed the plantq of which it confift'; in various and very diftant parts of 
his works : fome of them are feparated from others by eleven intermediate clallcs, and by almofl: fix 
hundred genera. 
They all perfectly agree in thofe two cflential and obvious charaders, that the flower confifts of 
a fingle petal, and the feeds are enclofed in a fingle capfule. 
They differ from thofe of the laft clafs in that the flower is of an irregular form. As in thofe ic 
is plain and regular : in thefe it is, for the mofl part, of the labiated kind, or of a form nearly 
approaching to that ftrufture. 
Mr. Ray faw this difl:in6lion between the plants of the prefent, and thofe of the preceding clafs, 
but he has arranged them only under two divifionp of the fame clafs, making them eflentially agree: 
this is a praftice not liable to the cenfure of error ; though the keeping them diflind is much more 
ufeful. 
Though the flowers in the plants of this clafs agree, in a great meafure, with thofe of the labiated 
kind, yet the diftinftion is very great in the difpofition of the feeds : thefe in the labiated plants, properly 
fo called, rtand naked in the cup of the flower ; and in thofe of this genus they have a regular capfule. 
This is a fufficicnt diitinflion in nature ; yet, Linnaeus, who does not regard either the fhape of 
the flower or condition of the feeds as a claflical charafter, but builds that divifion upon the num- 
ber and difpofition of the filaments or threads in the flower, places the greater part of thefe plants in 
the fame clafs with the labiated kind ; as the linaria^ pedicularis, and the reft ; and makes their 
having a capfule for the feeds only a fubordinate difliindtion, as Mr. Ray does the peculiar fhape 
of the flower : others of them, as the pinguicula and lentibularia, he places among his diandria ; and 
t\\t gladiolus lacujtris^ feparately from all the reft, among his fyngenefia monogamia, 
I fave the Itudent the labour of turning to different parts of a work to feek for plants of the 
fame kind ; and fliall keep them together in his memory, by placing them together in the plates. 
The intent of this work is to render the ftudy of plants familiar. As none will be fuppofed to 
underftand the fcience, while the prefent fafhion lafts, who is not able to converfe upon it in the 
language of Linnxus, I (hall occafionally explain his terms : and as none has perplexed the 
ftudy fo much by a new method as this author, I fiiall teach the reader at once to underftand it, and 
negled it. 
SERIES 
