DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19455#0025
DRAWING-ROOM BOTANY. 15
THE LINNtEAN SYSTEM.
Professor Hooker has justly remarked that the experience of
nearly a hundred years has proved, to every unprejudiced mind, that
no system has appeared which can be compared to that of the im-
mortal Swede, for the facility with which it enables any one,
hitherto unpractised in botany, to arrive at a knowledge of the
genus and species of a plant. Hugo Reid has so clearly and cor-
rectly described the mode of using this system, that I shall content
myself with quoting his account of it:—
" The mode by which a beginner finds out the name of a plant
is very simple indeed. He has a book containing a description
of all known plants.* He is supposed to retain in his memory
what is the distinguishing feature of each of the classes, and he
examines the plant to ascertain which of these features it presents.
This being found out, he knows that the plant is one of those
included in the corresponding class. There are twenty-four classes ;
he has fixed it in one of them, and has thus already made some,
progress. The plants which the class contains are arranged in
divisions (called orders), each of which possesses some easily-dis-
covered and well-marked character. He again examines the plant
to find to which of these divisions or orders it belongs. This being
ascertained, he has now found in which of the twenty-four classes
his plant is described, and in which order of the class, the number
of plants through which he has to search for it being now reduced
very much. On looking at the descriptions of plants belonging to
this order, it will be found that these are subdivided in various wavs;
and, by comparing his plant with the characters of the subdivisions,
he contracts the boundaries within which the plant is contained,
gradually descending from class to order, genus, and species ;
fixing its genus by comparing the calyx, corolla, and other parts of
the flower, with those of the plants in the text-book in the same
class and order, and the species, by examining the leaves, stem,
root, &c. When he first began his enquiry, for all he knew, the
plant might be any one in his text-book. The first step showed him
it was one out of a certain number ; the next step reduced the
number; and so on. In this system there are twenty-four classes.
The first twenty-three include the Phcenogamous (or flowering)
plants. They have, in general, a calyx and corolla, and produce
their seeds by stamens and pistils. The twenty-fourth class con-
sists of the Cryptogamic (or flowerless) plants, destitute of calyx,
corolla, stamens, and pistils."
* Perhaps the best descriptive systematic catalogue of British plants is
Hooker's Flora, and, for both these and foreign species, Loudon's Encyclo-
jycedia of Plants.
THE LINNtEAN SYSTEM.
Professor Hooker has justly remarked that the experience of
nearly a hundred years has proved, to every unprejudiced mind, that
no system has appeared which can be compared to that of the im-
mortal Swede, for the facility with which it enables any one,
hitherto unpractised in botany, to arrive at a knowledge of the
genus and species of a plant. Hugo Reid has so clearly and cor-
rectly described the mode of using this system, that I shall content
myself with quoting his account of it:—
" The mode by which a beginner finds out the name of a plant
is very simple indeed. He has a book containing a description
of all known plants.* He is supposed to retain in his memory
what is the distinguishing feature of each of the classes, and he
examines the plant to ascertain which of these features it presents.
This being found out, he knows that the plant is one of those
included in the corresponding class. There are twenty-four classes ;
he has fixed it in one of them, and has thus already made some,
progress. The plants which the class contains are arranged in
divisions (called orders), each of which possesses some easily-dis-
covered and well-marked character. He again examines the plant
to find to which of these divisions or orders it belongs. This being
ascertained, he has now found in which of the twenty-four classes
his plant is described, and in which order of the class, the number
of plants through which he has to search for it being now reduced
very much. On looking at the descriptions of plants belonging to
this order, it will be found that these are subdivided in various wavs;
and, by comparing his plant with the characters of the subdivisions,
he contracts the boundaries within which the plant is contained,
gradually descending from class to order, genus, and species ;
fixing its genus by comparing the calyx, corolla, and other parts of
the flower, with those of the plants in the text-book in the same
class and order, and the species, by examining the leaves, stem,
root, &c. When he first began his enquiry, for all he knew, the
plant might be any one in his text-book. The first step showed him
it was one out of a certain number ; the next step reduced the
number; and so on. In this system there are twenty-four classes.
The first twenty-three include the Phcenogamous (or flowering)
plants. They have, in general, a calyx and corolla, and produce
their seeds by stamens and pistils. The twenty-fourth class con-
sists of the Cryptogamic (or flowerless) plants, destitute of calyx,
corolla, stamens, and pistils."
* Perhaps the best descriptive systematic catalogue of British plants is
Hooker's Flora, and, for both these and foreign species, Loudon's Encyclo-
jycedia of Plants.