Description
Book SynopsisAmong the many interests of Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was botany. These letters 'addressed to a lady' on the Linnaean system and the structure of plants came to the attention of Thomas Martyn, professor of botany at the University of Cambridge, who published a translation and continuation in 1785.
Table of ContentsTranslator's preface; Introduction; 1. The true use of botany; 2. Double flowers to be avoided; 3. Botany not to be studied by books; 4. Reason why two stamens are shorter than the other four in cruciform flowers; 5. Glands very small; 6. The umbellate and other natural tribes of plants; 7. Botany a study of curiosity only; 8. The manner how to form a hortus siccus; 9. The skill of a botanist; 10. Genera and species; 11. Explanation of generic and specific characters of plants; 12. The examination of plants; 13. Corn and grasses; 14. Other plants of the third class; 15. The fourth class; 16. The fifth class; 17. Nectary; 18. Hexandria monogynia; 19. Heptandria; 20. The eleventh class; 21. Class Icosandria; 22. Fourteenth class, Didynamia; 23. Fifteenth class, Tetradynamia; 24. Plants to be examined at different seasons; 25. Class seventeenth, Diadelphia; 26. Class Syngenesia; 27. The twentieth class; 28. The twenty-first class; 29. The twenty-second class; 30. The twenty-third class; 31. The different forms and structure of the nectary; 32. The twenty-fourth class; Index of the English names of plants; Index of Latin names; Natural tribes, or orders of plants; Index of terms.