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Show ~ ~ ·R E F·A C E. ·: \1 . ! 0 • LINNEUS has divided the vegetable world into 24 Claifes ; thefe Claifes into about r 20 Orders ; thefe Orders contain about 2000 Families, or Genera; and thefe Families about 20,000 Species; befides the innumerable Varieties, which the accidents of climate or cultivation have added to thefe Species. The Claifes are dill:ingui!hed from each other in this ingenious fyll:em, by the number, fituation, adhefion, or reciprocal proportion of the males in each flnwt>r . ThP Orc-lers, in many of thefe Claifes, are dill:inguifhed by the number, or other circumll:ances of the females. The Families, or Genera, are characterized by the analogy of all the parts of the flower or fructification. The Species are diftinguifhed by the foliage of the plant; and the Varieties by any accidental circumfiance of colour, tafie, or odour; the feeds of thefe do not always produce plants fimilar to the parent; as in our numerous fruit-trees and garden flowers; which are propagated by grafts or layers. The fidl: el.even Claifes include the plants, in whofe flowers both the fexes refide; and in which the Males or Stamens are neither united, nor unequal in height when at maturity; and are therefore difiinguifhed from each other limply by the number of males in each flower, as is feen in the annexed PLATE, copied .from the Dictionaire Botanique ofM. BuLLIARD, in which thenumbersof each di vifion refer to the Botanic Claifes. A |
