XVI PREFACE. 



growing in Great Britain/' Of this a second edition, 

 greatly improved, came forth in 1787, consisting, 

 like the former, of tw^o volumes. This edition is ren- 

 dered peculiarly valuable by " a new set of references 

 to figures," by Dr. Jonathan Stokes ; who performed, 

 with great judgment and accuracy, the laborious 

 task of examining almost every figure, throughout 

 the whole botanical library, which was referrible to 

 any British plant, and of disposing citations of the 

 whole in order, according to their comparative ex- 

 cellence. A third edition of Dr. Withering's work, 

 greatly enlarged in its plan and execution, making 

 four volumes, appeared in 1796. In this the classes 

 with separated flowers, and the Gynandria^ are, ac- 

 cording to the scheme of Thunberg and others, abo- 

 lished ; an alteration which it would not become me 

 to reject without giving my reasons, and these may 

 be found in the Introduction to Botany^ which the 

 reader will of course peruse before he applies the 

 present work to practical use. This edition of Wither- 

 ing, the last which its worthy author completed, is 

 what I have always used, and the only one quoted 

 in the ensuing pages. Two more editions with which 

 I am not conversant, have been given to the world 

 since his death. 



The work of Dr. Withering was the only book, at 

 the time of its publication, which could effectually 

 serve a mere English reader, in the present advanced 

 state of botanical knowledge, for the determination 

 of British Plants. Its language is liable to little 

 exception. The references to figures have, in the 

 third edition, been revised and corrected, but not I 

 believe by their original author Dr. Stokes. Nume- 



