AN 



INTRODUCTION 



TO THE 



STUDY OF BOTANY. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CHARACTER OF A LILIACEOUS FLOWER. 



To acquire a knowledge of the vegetable world, 

 so pleasing to all observers, it may not perhaps be 

 amiss to anticipate the dry detail of technical phrases,* 

 which has but too often deterred, at the very portal 

 of Flora's temple, the enquirer into the nature and 

 character of this beautiful and useful tribe of beings, 

 and begin, at once, by examining plants as we find 

 them, in the manner our predecessors must have 

 done, from whom we have received their history. 



We ought then to commence by making ourselves 

 acquainted with the common names of those plants 

 which are around us, and these few objects, known 

 by sight, will serve as so many points of comparison 

 in order to extend our knowledge of the subject. 



* A glossary of botanical terms will be found alphabetically- 

 arranged at the close of the volume, intended to answer the gen- 

 eral purpose of a treatise on terminalogy. 



1 



