Remarks on the system of the Spermatophytes

For the group of plants treated in the “Compendium” I have used the name Spermatophyta. WETTSTEIN in his “Handbuch” remarks that this name is incorrect because in botany the word “sperma” is used for spermatozoids, and from the name Spermatophyta it might be concluded that by it “plants with spermatozoids” were meant. WETTSTEIN’s objection is not to be taken seriously however. Nobody will ever think of translating the name Gymnospermae by “plants with naked spermatozoids”! I did not like to use the name Phanerogamae for the group since the corresponding name “Cryptogamae” has lost all meaning. “Anthophyta” cannot be used, because the Pteridospermae have no flowers and it would even be advisable to use the term “Flower” only with regard to Angiospermae. The classic division into Gymnospermae and Angiospermae has been given up. The Pteridospermae are fundamentally different from the Gymnospermae e.g. by the form of their leaves and by the absence of a strobilus. I consider them equal in rank to the subdivision Gymnospermae. The same may be said of the group which formerly under the name Gnetales or Gnetinae used to be considered as a subdivision of the Gymnospermae, but which, in my opinion, are even farther removed from the Gymnospermae than the Pteridospermae. They have obtained here the rank of a new subdivision under the name Chlamydospermae. I have distinguished therefore four subdivisions of the Spermatophyta namely Pteridospermae, Gymnospermae, Chlamydospermae and Angiospermae.