PREFACE. 13 



that those who do not cuhivate them all, may be sensible 

 of the value of each in itself, and that no disgraceful ri- 

 valship or contempt, the oiFspring of ignorance, may be 

 felt by the pursuers of any to the prejudice of the rest. 



I have treated of physiological and anatomical subjects 

 in the first place, because a true knowledge of the struc- 

 ture and parts of plants seems necessary to the right 

 understanding of botanical arrangement ; and I trust 

 the most superficial reader will here find enough for 

 that purpose, even though he should not be led to pur- 

 sue these subjects further by himself. I have every 

 where aimed at familiar illustrations and examples, refer- 

 ring, as much as possible, to plants of easy acquisition. 

 In the explanation of botanical terms and characters, I 

 have, besides furnishing a new set of plates with referen- 

 ces to the body of the work, always cited a plant for my 

 purpose by its scientific name, with a reference to some 

 good and sufiicient figure. For this end I have generally 

 used either my own works English and Exotic Botany^ 

 all the plates of which, as well as of the present volume, 

 are the performance of the same excellent botanist as 

 well as artist ; or Curtis's Magazine, much of which 

 also was drawn by Mr. Sowerby. I have chosen these 

 as the most comprehensive and popular books, quoting 

 others only when these failed me, or when I had some 

 particular end in view. If this treatise should be adopted 



