PREFACE. IX 



myself severely during the last course of my Lectures, and I have 

 reason to believe that it has been equally complained of in the 

 other Universities of Scotland. Of my own qualifications for 

 the task it would by no m.eans become me to speak : I, most 

 assuredly, cannot lay claim to the advantages arising from a 

 long residence in the country j but, on the other hand, 1 am not 

 altogether a stranger to it. Two successive tours, undertaken 

 for the purpose of the cultivation of this branch of Natural 

 History, the one in company with Mr. Borrer, the other with 

 Mr. Turner, and both of them extending over by far the greatest 

 part of the country, have rendered me, in some measure, ac- 

 quainted with its vegetable productions. For a much more exten- 

 sive and intimate acquaintance with them, I am proud to acknow- 

 ledge myself indebted to the communications of my friends, who 

 are residents in various parts of the kingdom : the information 

 they have supplied me with is invariably accompanied with their 

 names ; but in a peculiar manner I feel myself bound to acknow- 

 ledge the exertions made by my friend R. H. Greville, Esq. who 

 devoted a very large portion of his time to the study of the mi- 

 nuter Fungi, with a success to which that portion of the work 

 will bear ample testimony. Still much remains to be done in that 

 extensive tribe, as well as among the Confervae, nor could the 

 Botanists of Scotland render a more acceptable service to their 

 Flora than by searching for new individuals of these families : and 

 I can assure them that their labours will be rewarded by numerous 

 interesting discoveries. 



The work is divided into Two Parts : the First comprising all 

 the plants of Scotland, arranged according to the Linnean System, 

 with the exception of the last class Cryptogamia. It contains 

 generic and specific characters, with further descriptions and 

 observations, where considered necessary, and occasional remarks 

 on the uses of the plants. The synonyms are curtailed as much 

 as possible, a single reference being considered sufficient where 

 such can be made to a good figure, or to some work which shall 

 have described the plant as a native of Scotland. The Second 



b 



