Plant Families - How To Know Them

H. E. Jaques

• Publisher: Lowe Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781446508640, 9781446512395
• eBook ISBN: 9781528763356
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Botany
• Index: Biological Sciences

"Plant Families – How To Know Them" is a 1948 guide to identifying plants by H. E. Jaques. It aims to teach the reader how to readily attribute any and every plant they see to its proper family, as well as to provide them with a general understanding of the characteristics of said family of trees. This accessible and profusely-illustrated guide will appeal to nature lovers and is not to be missed by those with a keen interest in gardening. Contents include: "Some Plant Facts", "A List of Reference Books", "How to Use the Keys", "Pictured-Keys for Identification of the Families of Plants", "Algae", "Lichens", "Mosses and Liverworts", "Ferns", "Flowering Plants", "A List of the Families of Plants in Their Logical Order", and "Index and Illustrated Glossary". Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on the history of gardening.

PICTURED-KEYS FOR IDENTIFYING THE FAMILIES OF THE ENTIRE PLANT KINGDOM

There are more than 250,000 known species of plants. A life time of specialization would be needed to know most of them intimately. But these many species fall into a few hundred families. An earnest student or careful observer can acquaint himself with so many of these families that he will recognize the relationships of the majority of the plants he sees, no matter how widely he travels. The family makes the best unit for a thorough general knowledge of plants or animals.

To secure a clear picture of the plant kingdom is is necessary to begin with the larger groups. The reader will now gather up his equipment of keen eyes, alert mind, and good perseverance and he is ready to start on a most fascinating journey through the Kingdom of Plants.

KEY TO THE PRINCIPAL GROUPS OF PLANTS

The plants are usually divided into four great groups. It is commonly recognized that some of these groups are “artificial”. The Thallophyta in particular includes many plants which are somewhat alike in their simplicity but which are evidently widely disrelated.

1a Plants without distinction of root, stem and leaf; without flowers, both aquatic and terrestrial; algae; fungi, and lichens. “HAVE NO ARCHEGONIA”. Figs. 1 to 200.

Division THALLOPHYTA page 8

1b Plants with distinct leaves; with or without roots or flowers.

2

2a Small plants (to 4 or 5 inches tall) with green or gray-green leaves, or tiny leaf-like forms on damp earth or floating on water. No true roots or flowers. (Some small oval green discs floating on quiet water with roots suspended beneath are flowering plants and do not belong here.) “HAVE ARCHEGONIA BUT NO VASCULAR BUNDLES”. (Mosses and Liverworts.) Figs. 201 to 253.

Phylum BRYOPHYTA page 69

2b Plants with true roots and vascular bundles; mostly with veiny leaves.

3

3a Plants without flowers or seeds, herbs (not woody), propagated by spores. Figs. 254 to 265. “HAVE VASCULAR BUNDLES BUT NO SEEDS”. (The Ferns, etc.)

Phylum PTERIDOPHYTA page 86

3b Plants with flowers (sometimes very simple; one tiny stamen or one pistil may constitute a flower) and seeds. “HAVE SEEDS”.

Figs. 266 to 472. (The seed-bearing plants.)

Phylum SPERMATOPHYTA page 89

THE THALLOPHYTA

1a (a, b, c) Plants green, with chlorophyll, thus organizing their own food by photosynthesis. Figs. 1 to 116.

Sub-division PHYCOPHYTA, The Algae 2

1b Plants without chlorophyll (not green). Living parasitically on living plants or animals or as saprophytes on dead, organic matter. Figs. 127 to 200.

Sub-division MYCOPHYTA, The Fungi page 44

1c Dual organisms in which a green plant species (alga) is held in parasitic embrace by a species of fungus. Usually gray-green or yellow-green but sometimes displaying bright colors. Common on tree trunks, rocks and often growing directly on the ground.

Figs. 117 to 126.

The Lichens page 41

KEYS TO THE FAMILIES OF THE ALGAE

2a Plant cells without recognizable nucleus...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• A Short History of Gardening
• Introduction
• Contents
• Some Plant Facts
• A List of Reference Books
• How to Use the Keys
• Pictured-Keys for Identification of the Families of Plants
• A List of the Families of Plants in their Logical Order
• Index and Illustrated Glossary