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works to which references are given. But as this book may probably fall into the hands of many who, while they have no previous acquaintance with botanical science and little leisure or inclination for its study, are yet desirous of learning the names of the flowers they meet with in their walks, it may be advisable to add a few lines explanatory of the general structure of flowering plants, which, with the Glossary of terms, will probably enable any educated person, however unscientific, to understand the descriptions given in the body of the work.
The vegetable kingdom is naturally divided into two great sections, the plants of which, while exhibiting for the most part considerable differences in internal structure, are more remarkably distinguished by the mode in which they propagate their kind. Those of one division possess no distinct flowers or seeds in which the germ of the future plant is enveloped, but multiply by means of minute cellular bodies called spores. Those of the other have distinct floral organs and produce seeds properly so called. The former section, called by botanists Cryptogamia, includes Ferns, Mosses, Lichens, Seaweeds and Fungi, with some other vegetables not comprised under these designations; the latter, the Phanerogamia or Flowering Plants, to the British species of which our present book alone refers.
A plant, in this, its more highly developed form, usually consists of four distinct parts, which, while they are all modifications of the same organic type, consisting of cells and vessels variously arranged, have yet very different offices assigned them in the œconomy of Nature. They are the root, stem, leaves, and flower.
The root is the organ by which the plant absorbs nutriment from the soil; it generally consists of a number of branches, whence various small fibres spring and penetrate into the surrounding earth in search of the nourishment, principally absorbed by their tender extremities. Where this form prevails, the root is
