PREFACE. 



1 HE title of Flora, first used by Linders and Rup- 

 pius, early in tlie eighteenth century, to designate 

 an account of the native plants of some particular 

 country, has become popular in the Linnaean school 

 of Botany, and is now universally adopted. Books 

 bearing this title are almost innumerable, while their 

 scope and their merits are equally various. Some 

 are little more than catalogues of names ; others are 

 elaborate histories of the vegetable productions of 

 particular districts, more or less extensive; and many 

 are illustrated with figures of the several species, or 

 at least of those requiring particular elucidation. 

 The utility of such publications has been much con- 

 troverted ; but it depends, like that of other works, 

 on the excellence of their plan and execution. A 

 mere list of the plants of any country, if accurate 

 and complete, has its appropriate value ; more espe- 

 cially when it contains the discriminative charac- 

 ters by which such plants may be ascertained. But 

 a Flora may also be made a vehicle for the natural, 

 medical, and economical history of a country, like 

 the Flora Lapponica of Linnaeus ; though such ob- 

 jects cannot with propriety enter into the plan of a 

 Floy^a of any highly improved or well-known region. 

 We now therefore expect, under this title, u work 



