PREFACE. XI 



one in general use, being always referred to by Lin- 

 naeus, and quoted throughout by Hudson, and most 

 subsequent writers upon British plants ; particularly 

 in the Flora Britannica and English Botany ', as well 

 as in every page of the present work. Dillenius has, 

 very properly, distinguished all his own additions 

 to the Synopsis, by marking his new species with an 

 asterisk, and inclosing his remarks between brackets. 

 This ought to be kept in mind, for the perfect un- 

 derstanding of the work ; and yet we not unfre- 

 quently find his observations, and even his figures, 

 criticized, as coming from Ray. The changes made 

 in the synonyms of this edition are unfortunately 

 not marked ; and as they are often erroneous, those 

 botanists who are studious of truth and precision 

 must have recourse to the edition of 1696. Dille- 

 nius has indeed added several plants on insufficient 

 grounds, either as species or natives, some of them 

 being under different denominations in the original 

 work. Such mistakes, into which very able men 

 may readily fall, have from time to time been cor- 

 rected by following writers. The subject has now 

 passed thrice under the inspection of the author of 

 the present English Flora, not altogether surely 

 without advantage, and yet certainly without being 

 brought to perfection. 



The third edition of Ray's Synopsis was long the 

 standard book of English botanists, and its nomen- 

 clature, however imperfect, was in. daily use. The 

 system of this author, indeed, scarcely served for the 

 technical examination of plants ; nor was it often 

 adverted to by those who, from long habit, preferred 

 his names to the more concise ones of Linnaeus. 



