OF THE FERNS AND FLOWERING PLANTS. 155 
repeat the warning here. Among the Phanerogamia, with 
very rare exceptions, flower and fruit, leaves, stem and 
root, are fully developed ; and (excluding the first-named) 
they are equally perfect in the Ferns. Consequently every 
one of these organs ought to find a place in the herbarium. 
There is no positive reason why the stem, or the root, 
should be neglected any more than the flower, or the leaf. 
And yet this is just the point in respect to which beginners 
make the most w-oful mistakes. They are satisfied with 
a moiety, when they should have the whole. An her- 
baceous plant, for instance, is plucked off at some distance 
above the junction of the stem with the root, and carried 
triumphantly home as a specimen of that particular 
species. What is the result ? Suppose it is an Orchis which 
the tyro has in hand. He searches through one or the 
other of the standard botanical works, and, under the head 
of Orchis, he finds that the specific differences depend in 
a greater or less degree on the form of the root : thus, 
while one important subdivision has ‘ tubers undivided/ 
another is provided with ‘ palmate tubers.’ Hence he is 
reduced to guess at the name of his fragment, or at best 
to do his work of collecting over again — not always a 
convenient task. 
The fact is, there are peculiarities in every part of a 
plant, from the root to the inflorescence, which cannot be 
neglected with impunity. What a large number of species 
depend for their due identification upon the presence of 
the radical or root leaves, and which cannot be satisfac- 
torily determined, unless these are under the observer’s eye ! 
The very names of some are based upon the fact of the 
root-leaves having a totally different form to the series 
which clothe its upper parts. It is well known that the 
stem-leaves of the common hare-bell are narrow and linear. 
Whence then its technical name, Campanula rotundifolia ? 
It was given to it by the great Linnagus, who saw it in the 
early summer forcing its way through the chinks of some 
stone steps in the university of Upsal. At that season the 
