4 
Dr. Ph. Fr. de Siebold Flora Japonica. Sectio prima, planta ornatui vel usui 
inservientes. Digessit Dr. J. G. Zuccarini, Fasc. I.-VIII. 1835-1839. 4to. 
Of this beautiful work eight parts only have appeared in 
four years, from which it is to be inferred that the encourage- 
ment it meets with from the public is not of a very substan- 
tial nature. I may therefore be permitted to state somewhat 
at length what manner of book this is, the subscribers to 
which are so few, that it can hardly draw its slow length 
along. , 
In all respects it is an ouvrage de luxe, printed in large 
4to. in Latin and French, on fine paper, with a bold hand- 
some type, and broad margin, and illustrated with coloured 
plates of plants, remarkable either for their use or beauty. 
The figures are drawn by artists of taste and skill, are beau- 
tifully engraved on stone, and are coloured in a manner that 
leaves nothing to desire as works of art; they are accom- 
panied in all cases by elaborate dissections of the parts of 
fructification, which renders them of great value as works of 
science. The title-page is richly embellished with a view of 
the tomb, erected in the island of Dezima, to the memory of 
Kempfer and Thunberg, and the dedication to the Grand 
Duchess of Russia is enriched with graceful arabesque tracery. 
It is therefore obvious that no care or cost have been with- 
held from the work by the publishers. 
The editorial part, by Professor Zuccarini of Munich, is 
performed in a manner worthy of the state of modern science. 
In addition to the information as to synonymes, $c. usually 
found in works of systematical botany, there is an elaborate 
technical description in Latin of each species, and an account 
in French of its habits and uses, together with such scientific 
discussion as the subject calls for. The best illustration that 
can be given of this is by way of extract, for which purpose 
I give the account of the Siz Noki or Quercus cuspidata, a 
kind of oak with eatable acorns. 
* The St Noki is found in all the islands of Japan; it 
grows in thickets mixed with other kinds of Oaks, Chesnuts, 
Laurels, Wild Camellias, Viburnums, and Ilex, especially about 
cottages and solitary farm-houses, on the hills and mountains, 
as higH as a thousand feet above the level of the sea. In gar- 
dens it serves as an ornament, and its fruits, which taste like 
chesnuts, are eaten raw, or roasted, and are also employed as 
a remedy in dropsical cases. The wood is fine grained, hard, 
y 
