Vlll PREFACE. 



No apology, I trust, will be deemed necessary for not here giving 

 such enlarged descriptions, and such full synonymy and habitats, 

 as are contained in the earlier volumes of the English Flora. 

 Such a plan would, indeed, have been desirable ; and it is im- 

 possible to say how much it is to be wished, for the sake of 

 Cryptogamic Botany, that Messrs. Turner and Borrer would 

 complete their Lichenographia Britannica, begun upon this prin- 

 ciple ; but it is obvious, that had such a plan been adopted, in 

 the present instance, instead of the whole of the Class Crypto- 

 gamia, (excepting the Ferns,) being comprised in the 2 parts of 

 a single volume, 5 volumes would scarcely have proved suffi- 

 cient for it. A larger page, and smaller type, and all possible 

 brevity consistent with clearness, have been employed to bring 

 these plants into as small a compass as possible ; many stations, 

 and references to excellent local Floras, have, consequently, 

 been omitted, but none, it is hoped (at least not designedly), 

 that are necessary for the illustration of the species. 



W. J. HOOKER. 



February 1st, 1833. 



