Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-01-30

University Of Vermont and by the many
botansts scattered about the state. 1t Is
n matter OF pride that the man whose speci-
mems are considered the models for Euro
pcan collectors Is a Vcrmonter, Cyrus
'rindlc of Charlotte and the vigorous dc
Nelopment Of the Vermont Botanical club
Is the logical outcome OF such leadership.
Speaking of tho fundamental relation
ships among the Towering plants 1t is to
he noted that II Is impossible to show this
by linear arrangement or any form Of
genealogical tree. These relationships can
only be understood I'm the light of the the
DRY of evolution along the lines laid down
by Darwin. 1t Is not strange therefore
that the earlier botanists failed to grasp
the right ideas. one of the ablest attempts
at satisfactory system was that OF Tour
nefort. about 1905. which was really better
than that Of Linnaeus although the latter
was more popular.
The first men who really grasped the idea
of relationships were the French Botanist
de Jussleu. our modern botanical systems
are laid upon the foundations they made
dividing plants into monocotyledons anu
dicotyledons and subdividng these groups
according to the presence and character
OF floral leaves. The de Candolles.. three
generations of bCtanists. laboring through
out the last century elaborated this sys-
tenn and attempted to arrange under 1T all
the known plants of the world. The i'm
mensity of the task necositatcd that their
earlier work was out of date long before
the completion of their later studies and
two botanists who attempted to accom-
plish similar work during their life time
gave up in turn and committed suicide.
To-day revision is being attempted
in which some 40 botanlsts including some
Americans are cooperating. These MOD
ern attempts are following the system Of
iIichler which recognizes the evolution
airy foundation. 1t is based upon three
fundamental principles. first. that thu
flower is the part of the plant which gives
the best key to its relationship, second.
that the flower has developed from leaf
branch, and. third, that the leaves on the
primitive branch were separate struo-
lures arranged in spirals. 1t follows that
those plants are oldest in which the flOw
er most closely resembles the lcafy branc
and those plants are highest and hen,
most recently developed in which the flow
er has separated farthest from the typ
Of the lcafy branch.
This system has been most fully devel-
oped by the German botanists. Engler
and Prantl, and the system publish
ed in their recently completed work
is the one which is now follow
ed in all botanical publications. d,
Robinson then explained the details oi
this system with great clearness, Illus
trating the various points by means O..
charts and a beautiful series of dia gram
This system leads us to look upon III
composite family as representing the hig
est development in the plant kingdom.
since in these we have not only the union
of the floral organs, but also the cole,
ton of the flowers themselves into close
heads.
Very recently the French botanist Ndu
Ticgham has published n rival system bur
it is not probable that it VIII displacc the
one above outlined.
After the address an informal recepti1
was held in the library, the receiving par,v
consisting of President and Mrs NJ. v
FUckham, Mrs. /. X. Jones, Prof y. J..
Robinson of Harvard College pr. u. &C.
Kennedy of Milton, Mass and Preside
Ezra Braiuerd of Mlddlchury College.