INTRODUCTION 
liii 
CLASSIFICATION OF THE NATURAL ORDERS OF 
FLOWERING PLANTS REPRESENTED IN THE 
FLORA OF SIMLA 
It was originally intended to construct a key to the Natural 
Orders, in concordance with the keys to the Genera and Species, 
but after due consideration it has been decided to explain their 
classification rather than enter into structural details. The reason 
is that only a very elaborate key would be sufficient, and an ela- 
borate one would be deterrent to the amateur, who gains his 
knowledge largely from external characters, and would therefore be 
bewildered by the intricacies of a long series of alternatives en- 
cumbered with numerous exceptions. 
The sequence of the Natural Orders in this work is adopted 
from Bentham and Hooker’s ‘ Genera Plantarum.’ 
Flowering Plants are primarily divided into three Classes of 
very unequal proportions, namely : — 
I. Dicotyledones, comprising the orders Ranunculacese to 
Salicacese, pp. 1-481. 
II. Gymnosperivle, comprising the orders Gnetacese and 
Coniferse, pp. 481 -488. 1 
III. Monocotyledones, comprising the orders Orchidaceae to 
Gramineae, pp. 489-636. 
Definitions of the Classes and Divisions. 
I. Dicotyledones : Herbs, shrubs or trees of the most varied 
habit. Stem, when perennial, consisting of a central pith, con- 
centric layers of wood. and a separable bark, increasing in size by 
additional layers immediately beneath the bark. Leaves net- 
veined, commonly disarticulating from the branches freely. Parts 
1 Dicotyledones were formerly divided into Angiospermae (having the 
ovules enclosed in an ovary) and Gymnospermae (having the ovules on open 
carpels), but they are now almost universally regarded as constituting distinct 
Classes, and the Gymnospermse are placed after the Monocotyledones. 
