x I NTH OD UCTION 



species of A retain as far as possible their old specific Qames when 

 placed in B. When an entry such as " Abildgaardia Vahl = Fimbri- 

 stylis Vahl p.p." is found, it means that the genus Abildgaardia as 

 established by Vahl is merged in his Fimbristylis. Many of the species 

 change their names, but some retain their specific names, when the 

 name is not already occupied. This latter case is often indicated by 

 putting the name of the old genus in brackets after that of the new, thus, 

 F. (A.) fulvescetts. In many cases the names of some of the genera 

 thus merged in other genera are indicated thus: Axinandra Thw. (BH. 

 inch Naxiandra Krasser) ; no attempt however has been made to give 

 all such cases or a fraction of them, but only a few of the more im- 

 portant. In particular those have been given where the genus as here 

 defined differs from the definition in Engler and Prantl's Natiirliche 

 Pfianzenfamilien or Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum by the 

 inclusion and exclusion of other genera. 



The name of the genus is followed by that of the family to which it 

 belongs, and after this is often a number (in brackets) indicating the 

 section of the family, thus Acacia belongs to Subfamily I and Tribe 2 

 of Leguminosae. The general plan upon which the book has been con- 

 structed, and the necessity for condensation, render it essential, if the 

 full advantage is to be derived from its use, that the student should refer 

 to the family as well as the genus. There he will find the important 

 general characters possessed by its members, and should examine the 

 genus to see in what it agrees, and in what it disagrees, with these. 

 A further reference to the classification given at the end of the article 

 upon the family will point out the special characters to be looked for in 

 the genus as a member of some particular sub-family or tribe. In this 

 way a large amount of information about the particular plant in question 

 may be obtained, and at the same time the student will get into the 

 way of regarding plants not as so many independent and disconnected 

 units, but as related members of one great whole. In this way too he 

 will soon acquire an appreciation of the relative importance of the 

 different characters in classification and will learn to recognise the 

 approximate relationships of most plants after a brief inspection, or even 

 at sight. 



The families are those given by Engler in his Syllabus and in Die 

 natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien, but sufficient reference is made to Bentham 

 and Hooker's system of classification to enable any one who may prefer 

 to use that system to do so. 



The name of the family is followed by a statement of the number of 



