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Show iv PREFACE. FEMALE, Monogynia. Two FEMALES, fligynia. THREE FEMALES, Trigym·a, &c. as is feen in No. i. which reprefents a plant of one male, one female; and in the firfi figure of No. xi. which reprefents a flower with twelve males, and three females; (for, where the piil:ils have no apparent fiyles, the fummits, or fiigmas, are to be numbered) and in the firfi figure of No. xii. which reprefents a flower with twenty males and many females; and in the la:il: Figure of the fame No. which has twenty ma~es and one female; and in No. xiii. which reprefents a flower with many males and many females. The Claf6 of Two PowERs is divided into two natural Orders; into fuch as have their· feeds naked at the bottom of the calyx, or flower cup; and fuch as have their feeds covered; as is fecn in No. xiv. Fig. 3· and 5. The Clafs of FouR PowERs is divided alfo into two Orders; in one of thefe the fccJs arc inclo:led in a filicule, as in Shepherd'spurft. No. xv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclofed in a filique, as in Wal/-jlQwer. Fig. 4· In all the other Cla:ffes, excepting the Cla:ffes Confederate Males, and <;:Iandeil:ine Marriage, as the character of each Clafs is di:il:inguifhed by the fituations of the males ; the character of the Orders is marked by the numbers of them. In the Clafs ONE BROTHERnooo," No. xvi. Fig. 3· the Order of ten males is reprefented. And in the Clafs Two BROTHERHOODS, No. xvii. Fig. 2. the Order ten males is reprefented. In the Clafs CoNFEDERATE MALES, the Orders are chiefly difiingui:lhed by the fertility or barrennefs of the florets of the diik, or ray of the compound flower. PREFACE. v And in the Clafs of CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, the four Or .. ders are termed FERNS, MossEs, FLAGS, and FuNGussEs. The Orders are again divided into Genera, or Families, which are all natural a:ffociations, and arc dcfnibed from the general refemblances of the parts of fruCtification, in refpect to their number, form, fituation, and reciprocal proportion. Thefe are the Calyx, or Flower-cup, as feen in No. iv. Fig. I. No. x. Fig. I. and 3· No. · F. I 2 3 4 Second the Corol, or Blofiom, as feen in XlV. Ig. · • · · ' . . . N o. 1. . I.I. . &c . Third ' the Males or Stamens, as 111 No. IV. F1g. I. and No. viii. Fig. I. Fourth, the Females. or Pifiils, as in No. i. No. xii. Fig. 1. No. xiv. Fig. 3· No. xv. Fig. 3· .~ift~, the Pericarp or Fruit-ve:ffel, as No. xv. Fig. 4- S· No. XVII. Fig. 2. Sixth, the Seeds. The illufirious author of the Sexual Sy:il:em of Botany, in his preface to his account of the Natural Orders, ing~nioufly i~agi.nes, that one plant of each Natural Order was created 111 the begmnmg; and that the intermarriages of thcfe produced one plant of every Genus, or Family: and that the intermarriages of thefe Generic, or Family plants, produced al~ the fpecies: and lail:ly, that the intermarriages of the individuals of the Species produced the Varieties. In the following PoEM, the name or number of the Clafs or Order of each plant is printed in italics; as " Two brother fwains." " One Houfe contains them." and the word "fie ret." expre:ffes the Clafs of Clandeil:ine Marriage. The Reader, who wifhes to become further acquainted with this delightful field of fcience, is ad vi fed to il:udy the w~rks of the Great Mail:er, and is apprized that they are exactly and hterally tran:llated into Englifh, by a Society at LrcHFIELD,. in four Volumes Octavo. |