PREFACE. 



DURIXG the very ^flattering attendance wtaich, 

 for the last, and the present season, has been be- 

 stowed on the botanical lectures in this place , and 

 the prevailing taste which has been manifested for 

 the study of plants ; it was impossible not to fc el tin-, 

 great inconvenience arising from the defiriei icy oi' 



botanical books. The common standard works of 



, 



the science, those containing the genera and specie* 

 >f plants, are hardly so much as heard of by n arac in 

 our bookstores. These works, even when ob taincd, 

 being principally in Latin, are useless to a gre it class 

 of amateurs of the science, who are not coftveipsant in 

 the learned languages. To this it may be added, 

 that a great number of American plants have never 

 been fully described, that all that is know n con- 

 cerning them is contained in the few wor< Is of a 

 specific character, which to the student, or i nexpe- 

 rienced botanist, can hardly afford a necess; iry de- 

 gree of satisfaction and certainty. 



I have been influenced by these circun intances 

 in e&termminq to offer to the friends of botan v in this 



o */ 



section of the country, the present colle ction of 

 plants, which has been undertaken with i ,lie hope 



