PLANT DESCRIPTION 219 
(b) Angiosperms have their ovules enclosed in 
an ovary. 
i. Dicotyledons have two sea leaves, €.9., 
pea. 
i: Monocotyledons have one seed leaf 
e.g., lily, grasses. 
Naming plants.—Each plant is by botanists given 
two names; the first indicates the genus, the second the 
species, e.g., Myrtus bullata. 
(a) Myrtus denotes that the plant belongs to 
the myrtus genus. This is the generic name. 
(b) Bullata is the specific name which distin- 
guishes this particular species of the myrtle 
genus. Bullata denotes ‘‘embossed,’’ the 
name being given on account of the emboss- 
ing of the leaf. 
Description—In describing plants the student 
should make sure that he has omitted none of the 
eardinal points. It is, of course, always well where 
possible to describe such minor details as the nature 
of a leaf surface or the colour of a petal, but it would 
be unpardonable to mention only such matters and 
omit all notice of the number and arrangement of 
members in different whorls of a flower; for it is on 
these latter that classification is largely based. It is 
important, above all things, to state in every case the 
number of sepals, petals, stamens and carpels, to 
indicate their cohesion (%.¢., to say whether they are 
united or free), and lastly to state precisely the 
adhesion of each whorl; is the flower hypogynous 
(below the ovary), perigynous (lifted up on the recep- 
tacle tube round the ovary), or epigynous (set on top of 
the ovary)? These are merely the essentials, the 
omission of any one of which would constitute a fatal 
defect in the description of a plant: there must, of 
course, be noted many other points, for instance those 
connected with habit, root, stem and leaves, as well 
