PREFACE. XVII 



rous places of growth, of the less common plants, 

 have been added, and several new species intro- 

 duced. I know but of one essential fault in the 

 original plan of this work, and that is much lessened 

 in the third edition ; the compilation of descriptions 

 from foreign authors, which do not always belong 

 to our plants. Nevertheless, as Dr. Withering in- 

 variably mentions the sources from whence he has 

 borrowed, no reader can necessarily be misled. 



An English book, to the language of which I have 

 always been partial, is the " Outlines of the Natural 

 History of Great Britain and Ireland, by John Berk- 

 enhout, M.D.," published in 1/70, in three volumes, 

 the second comprehending the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 It is without synonyms, but the short characters are 

 clear and expressive. This work, however, is super- 

 seded by Withering's. A second edition, under the 

 title of a Synopsis, in two volumes, appeared in 

 1789. 



It is scarcely necessary to mention Stephen Rob- 

 sons British Flora, printed at York in 1/77? with 

 three plates; the Enchiridion JBotanicum, a concise 

 Latin work of a similar aim, published by Arthur 

 Broughton, M.D., at London in 1782 ; or the 

 "Plates of the Indigenous Plants of Great Britain," 

 chiefly outlines and many of them diminished, given 

 to the publick, at a very cheap rate, by Mr. John 

 Walcot of Bath in 1778. The last publication was 

 discontinued after tad. 168, and the two former 

 have never been very popular. 



A great work, illustrative of British plants, but, 

 as Mr. Dryander has observed, " more splendid than 

 useful," in twelve quarto volumes, with numerous 



vol. i. b 



