The present translation of Dr. E. Warming’s _Haandbog i den
Systematiske Botanik_ is taken from the text of the 3rd Danish
Edition (1892), and from Dr. Knoblauch’s German Edition (1890), and
the book has been further enriched by numerous additional notes which
have been kindly sent to me by the author. Dr. Warming’s work has long
been recognised as an original and important contribution to Systematic
Botanical Literature, and I have only to regret that the pressure
of other scientific duties has delayed its presentation to English
readers. Dr. Warming desires me to record his high appreciation of the
careful translation of Dr. Knoblauch, and his obligation to him for a
number of corrections and improvements of which he has made use in the
3rd Danish Edition. In a few instances I have made slight additions
to the text; these, however, appear as footnotes, or are enclosed in
square brackets.
In the present Edition the Thallophytes have been revised and
rearranged from notes supplied to me by Dr. Knoblauch, to whom I am
indebted for the Classification of the Fungi, according to the more
recent investigations of Brefeld. The Bacteria have been revised by
Dr. Migula, the Florideæ rearranged after Schmitz, and the Taphrinaceæ
after Sadebeck. The main body of the text of the Algæ and Fungi remains
as it was originally written by Dr. Wille and Dr. Rostrup in the Danish
Edition, though in many places considerable alterations and additions
have been made. For the sake of comparison a tabular key to the
Classification adopted in the Danish Edition is given in the Appendix.
In the Angiosperms I have retained the sequence of orders in the Danish
original, and have not rearranged them according to the systems
more familiar to English students. In any rearrangement much of the
significance of Dr. Warming’s valuable and original observations
would have been lost, and also from a teacher’s point of view I have
found this system of great value. Although at present it may not be
completely satisfactory, yet as an attempt to explain the mutual
relationships, development and retrogression of many of the orders, it
may be considered to have a distinct advantage over the more artificial
systems founded upon Jussieu’s Divisions of Polypetalæ, Gamopetalæ, and
Apetalæ.
With reference to the principles of the systematic arrangement adopted,
I may here insert the following brief communication from the author
(dated March, 1890), which he has requested me to quote from the
preface of Dr. Knoblauch’s edition:--“Each form which, on comparative
morphological considerations, is clearly less simple, or can be shown
to have arisen by reduction or through abortion of another type having
the same fundamental structure, or in which a further differentiation
and division of labour is found, will be regarded as younger, and as
far as possible, and so far as other considerations will admit, will
be reviewed later than the ‘simpler,’ more complete, or richer forms.
For instance, to serve as an illustration: EPIGYNY and PERIGYNY are
less simple than HYPOGNY; the Epigynous _Sympetalæ_, _Choripetalæ_,
_Monocotyledones_ are, therefore, treated last, the _Hydrocharitaceæ_
are considered last under the _Helobieæ_, etc. ZYGOMORPHY is younger
than ACTINOMORPHY; the _Scitamineæ_ and _Gynandræ_ therefore follow
after the _Liliifloræ_, the _Scrophulariaceæ_ after the _Solanaceæ_,
_Linaria_ after _Verbascum_, etc. FORMS WITH UNITED LEAVES indicate
younger types than those with free leaves; hence the _Sympetalæ_
come after the _Choripetalæ_, the _Sileneæ_ after the _Alsineæ_, the
_Malcaceæ_ after the _Sterculiaceæ_ and _Tiliaceæ_, etc.
“ACYCLIC (spiral-leaved) flowers are older than cyclic
(verticillate-leaved) with a definite number, comparing, of course,
only those with the same fundamental structure. The _Veronica_-type
must be considered as younger, for example, than _Digitalis_
and _Antirrhinum_, these again as younger than _Scrophularia_;
_Verbascum_, on the contrary, is the least reduced, and therefore
considered as the oldest form. Similarly the one-seeded, nut-fruited
_Ranunculaceæ_ are considered as a later type (with evident abortion)
than the many-seeded, folicular forms of the Order; the _Paronychieæ_
and _Chenopodiaceæ_ as reduced forms of the _Alsineæ_ type; and the
occurrence of few seeds in an ovary as generally arising through
reduction of the many-seeded forms. The _Cyperaceæ_ are regarded as
a form derived from the _Juncaceæ_ through reduction, and associated
with this, as is so often the case, there is a complication of the
inflorescence; the _Dipsacaceæ_ are again regarded as a form proceeding
from the _Valerianaceæ_ by a similar reduction, and these in their
turn as an offshoot from the _Caprifoliaceæ_, etc. Of course these
principles of systematic arrangement could only be applied very
generally; for teaching purposes they have often required modification.”
In preparing the translation considerable difficulty has been
experienced in finding a satisfactory rendering of several terms which
have no exact equivalent in English. I may here especially mention the
term Vorblatt (Forblad) which I have translated by the term bracteole,
when it clearly applied to the first leaf (or leaves) on a pedicel; but
in discussing questions of general morphology a term was much needed
to include both vegetative and floral shoots, and for this I have
employed the term “Fore-leaf.” Also, the term “Floral-leaf” has been
adopted as an equivalent of “Hochblatt,” and the term “bract” has been
limited to a leaf subtending a flower. I have followed Dr. E. L. Mark
in translating the word “Anlage” by “Fundament.”
At the end of the book will be found a short appendix giving an outline
of some of the earlier systems of Classification, with a more complete
account of that of Hooker and Bentham.
In a book of this character it is almost impossible to avoid some
errors, but it is hoped that these will be comparatively few. In
correcting the proof-sheets I have received invaluable assistance
from Dr. Warming and Dr. Knoblauch, who have kindly read through
every sheet, and to whom I am greatly indebted for many criticisms
and suggestions. I have also to thank Mr. I. H. Burkill for his kind
assistance in looking over the proofs of the Monocotyledons and
Dicotyledons, and Mr. Harold Wager for kindly reading through the
proofs of the Algæ and Fungi. My thanks are also especially due to Mr.
E. L. Danielsen, and I wish to take this opportunity of acknowledging
the very considerable help which I have received from him in
translating from the Original Danish.
M. C. POTTER.
_January, 1895._