PREFACE. 
Tur following pages contain a complete enumeration of all 
the plants collected by the late Dr. Vogel and his companions 
at Sierra Leone and other parts of the Guinea Coast, on the 
River Niger and its branches, and in the Island of Fernando 
Po, and of those gathered by Mr. George Don, chiefly at Sierra 
Leone and in the Island of St. Thomas, when collecting for the 
Horticultural Society. It had been wished to include also all 
other collections from the same country to which access could 
had, but it was found that the work would thus have been 
extended beyond the prescribed limits, both as to bulk and 
time; it has therefore been confined to the above-mentioned 
‘numeration, with the occasional addition of a few others of 
Peculiar interest, from the Hookerian Herbarium. At the same 
time, all other species hitherto published from Western Tropical 
Africa, including Senegambia, are mentioned by name, and 
wherever unpublished species have been found in the Herbaria 
of Sir W. Hooker or of Mr. Bentham, they have been alluded to 
under their respective genera, and the geographical range of 
cach species is given as far as known wherever they extend 
ond the region here in question. The geographical botanist 
will thus find a Flora as complete for his purpose as the 
materials could furnish. 
€. manuscript, as far as the Leguminose inclusive, was 
P'epared, with such exceptions as are specially indicated by 
notes, by Dr. Joseph Dalton Hooker previously to his departure 
for India. This manuscript has been revised by Mr. Bentham, 
who has prepared for press the remainder of the natural Orders. 
In this, however, he has been guided by a considerable number 
of analyses made by Dr. Hooker, and some memoranda made 
by Dr. Planchon in the Hookerian Herbarium. 
