CLASSIFICA TION 
*39 
The two German systems agree in making only two chief 
groups of Dicotyledons ; the English system makes a third 
group, the Incompletae, which is decidedly artificial, 
separating for instance the Chenopodiaceae, &c. far from 
the Caryophyllaceae to which they are closely allied. In 
general, the composition of the smaller groups of orders 
is much the same in all systems. The elementary 
student should not concern himself with any system until 
he is well acquainted with a number of orders (see p. 5) : 
he should then study the systems and try to discover why 
their authors have placed such and such orders in the places 
assigned to them. In this way he will gain an insight into 
the principles of classification. The relationships of 
many of the orders are discussed in Pt. II. When the 
student is familiar with 40 or 50 orders, he will be able to 
classify approximately any new order by determining its 
affinities to those he already knows. The attempt to use 
the system to determine the order to which a plant belongs 
will only lead to difficulties unless the student is already 
familiar with typical orders from many parts of it. 
Identification of Natural Orders at sight. After 
a time, the student will find himself becoming able in many 
cases to recognise at a glance the natural order to which a 
plant belongs, and after a few years’ practice, he should be 
able in this way to classify most plants met with. 
Thus the Ferns, Equisetaceae, Selaginellas, Cycads, Coni- 
fers, Palms, most Araceae, Pandanaceae, Bromeliaceae, Musa- 
ceae, Sarraceniaceae, Droseraceae, Cactaceae, Lentibularia- 
ceae, &c. are recognisable by their general habit; Cannaceae, 
Marantaceae, Zingiberaceae, most Polygonaceae, many Ru- 
taceae, Melastomaceae, &c. by their habit taken together 
with some peculiarity of the vegetative organs ; the inflores- 
cence enables one to recognise Typhaceae, Piperaceae, 
Salicaceae, Betulaceae, Fagaceae, Umbelliferae and their 
allies, Boraginaceae and allied orders, Dipsaceae and Com- 
positae ; obvious floral characters point out such families as 
Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Liliaceae, Orchidaceae, Proteaceae, 
Ranunculaceae, Cruciferae, Leguminosae, most Rosaceae, 
Polygalaceae, Malvaceae and their allies, Melastomaceae, 
Umbelliferae, Ericaceae, Primulaceae, Asclepiadaceae, 
Boraginaceae, Labiatae, Rubiaceae, Compositae, &c. 
