This section is from the book "British Wild Flowers In The Four Seasons", by Thomas Moore. Also available from Amazon: British Wild Flowers.
Leaves with netted veins. Flowers usually ternary - the parts in threes. Embryos as in Endogens. This group consists of the Orders numbered 60 and 61.
* Perianth inferior.
60. Trilliaceous plants - herbs; leaves whorled; flowers hermaphrodite; fruit 3-5-celled, succulent; seeds indefinite.
** Perianth superior.
61. Dioscoreaceous plants - climbing herbs; leaves alternate; flowers unisexual; fruit 3-celled, the cells 1-2-seeded.
Endogenous Plants or Monocotyledons. Leaves with parallel veins. Flowers usually ternary - the parts in threes. Embryos with one cotyledon; hence monocotyledonous. This group includes the Orders numbered from 62 to 73.
* Flowers imperfect or naked (i. e. without perianth or glumes), or consisting of scales.
† Inflorescence forming dense spikes or heads.
62. Orontiaceous plants - herbs; flowers hermaphrodite, spadiceous, the spadix issuing from a two-edged leaf; perianth scales six, herbaceous; ovary free, one- or more-celled, with erect ovules.
63. Typhaceous plants - aquatic herbs; flowers unisexual, arranged on a naked spadix; scales thin.
†† Flowers distinct, or in loose spikes.
64. Pistiaceous plants - floating, stemless, aquatics; flowers borne on the edge of the small scale-like fronds, quite naked.
65. Naiadaceous plants - floating aquatics, with distinct stem and leaves; perianth of four scales, or wanting; ovaries 1, 2, or 4.
** Flowers perfect, with a fetal-like whorled perianth. † Ovary inferior.
66. Hydrocharidaceous plants - floating or submerged herbs; flowers regular; dioecious; stamens nine or more, free.
67. Iridaceous plants - herbs; flowers six-leaved, hermaphrodite; stamens three, free.
68. Orchidaceous plants - herbs; flowers six-leaved, irregular; stamens gynandrous (combined with the style).
†† Ovary superior. ‡ Ovary syncarpous.
69. Liliaceous plants - herbs; perianth six-leaved, the sepals and petals alike, or nearly so (sometimes combined), regular.
‡‡ Ovary apocarpous.
70. Alismaceous plants - herbs; flowers three-petaled, the sepals and petals usually unlike or distinct, regular.
*** Flowers perfect, with a dry calyx-like whorled perianth.
71. Juncaceous plants - perianth regular, six-leaved, brown.
**** Flowers glumaceous, i. e. formed of imbricated chaffy scales or bracts (glumes).
72. Cyperaceous plants - herbs; leaves grassy, with entire sheaths; bracts one to each flower or floret.
73. Graminaceous plants - herbs; leaves grassy, with their sheaths split on the side opposite the blade; bracts two to each flower or floret.
* Anthers bursting outwardly. † Climbing shrubs with opposite leaves; (carpels one-seeded.)
(1) Clematis - sepals 4-5, coloured and petal-like; petals none.
†† Herbs with the leaves alternate or radical. ‡ Carpels several, short, one-seeded; (flowers regular).
(2) Thalictrum - sepals 4-5 or more, often coloured and petallike; petals none.
(3) Adonis - petals 5-10, conspicuous, usually red, without a nectariferous pore at their base.
(4) Ranunculus - petals five, rarely many, usually yellow or white, having a nectariferous pore at their base.
‡‡ Carpels several, many-seeded. § Flowers regular.
(5) Trollius - sepals 5-15, large, pale yellow, petal-like; petals as many, small, flat, linear.
§§ Flowers irregular or spurred.
(6) Aquilegia - sepals five, petaloid, flat, regular; petals five, funnel-shaped, each with a long horn-like basal spur.
(7) Delphinium - sepals five, the upper one with a long basal spur; petals combined into one, which is lengthened into a spur included in the spurred sepal.
(8) Aconitum - sepals five, the upper helmet-shaped, not spurred; two upper petals tubular, on long stalks concealed in the helmet-shaped sepal.
** Anthers bursting inwardly.
(9) Paeonia - sepals five, persistent; petals five or more, large, red or white.
 
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