( 29 ) 
himfelf in the difcrimlnation of one plant 
from another, fills us with admiration; till his* 
time there was much confufion in the ranun-. 
cuius tribe ; his penetrating eye marked this 
fmall appendage to the petal, to which he has 
given the name of Nectary ; he found it to 
exifl: uniformly in the individuals of the ge- 
nus ; and we are now no longer at a lofs to 
diftinguifh a ranunculus from other families, 
which in their outward appearance much 
refemble it. 
The different genera of flowers are more 
eafily diftinguimed from each other than, from 
their firft appearance, might be imagined, 
though rarely by fo obvious a character as 
this of the ranunculus ; yet, in the ftudy of 
the fyftem of vegetables, it will be found that 
very minute circumftances, and fuch as in 
the common obfervation of a flower might be 
overlooked, have been made ufe of to mark 
not only one family, but every individual of 
that family, from each other. 
The lady-fmock (cardamine) is a proper 
fpecimen of a crofs-form flower ; the lung- 
wort (pulmonaria), of the funnel-form; the 
thyme (thymus), of the grinning; the broom 
(fpartium), of the butterfly. The larger kind 
of 
