PRELIMINARY KNOWLEDGE.

...which fill that kind [of genus], it would be left wanting. Thus, if for the character of Convolvulus Bindweed I were to use these traits: climbing by its stems, yielding milky sap, having a bell-shaped flower, and a seed vessel divided into three chambers with two seeds in each; I would call a plant a Convolvulus if most of these traits were present, even if one particular one were missing. For example, I refer the Cretan Shrub-Trefoil described by Alpini original: Dorycnium Creticum Alpini; Prospero Alpini (1553–1617) was an Italian physician and botanist who studied Egyptian and exotic plants. to the Convolvulus genus due to its agreement in the other marks, even though it stands upright and does not climb with its stems. Likewise, the Branched bindweed with Mouse-ear leaves described by Bauhin original: Convolvulus ramosum foliis Pilosellæ; Caspar Bauhin (1560–1624) was a Swiss botanist famous for his pinax, or register, of plants., though it has only a single seed in each capsule.

In the same way, I bring the Yellow stock with pouch-like seeds of Alpini original: Leucoium luteum utriculato semine Alpini back to the class of Four-petaled plants with small pods Tetrapetalorum Siliculofarum, despite the fact that its flower has five petals, since it possesses the other marks of that group. Similarly, I do not hesitate to refer the field plant called Alysson Penny-cress original: Thlaspi Alysson to the same class, although it differs from all others of that class known to me so far in this: it does not shed the leaves of the calyx the green outer part of the flower along with the flower petals, but keeps them underneath the fruit until it reaches maturity.

So too the Wood Anemone original: Anemone nemorum, which is judged to be a Ranunculus Buttercup by most botanists because of the similarity of its fruit; likewise the so-called Geranium-leaved Anemone, which enjoys a clearly similar fruiting. No botanist skilled in nature, in my opinion, after seriously weighing the matter, would fail to refer it to Anemone rather than to Ranunculus based solely on the shape of the fruit. This is because of its simple stem with leaves arranged at only one joint, where three leaves are attached, bearing a single naked flower with many petals—in all of which, and in its entire appearance, it agrees with Anemone. Otherwise, the counsel of Dr. Hotton Peter Hotton (1648–1709), a Dutch professor of botany at Leiden. is not displeasing, as he established a new genus from them; concerning this, see what has been presented on page 190 of this little work. Likewise Dr. Tournefort Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708), a French botanist whose system was a major rival to Ray's. himself in his Elements of Botany, page 111, admits that the flower of Echium Viper's Bugloss is not absolutely regular, yet...