PREFACE. 



The present state of botanical knowledge renders it impossible for the 

 Author of this Work to indulge in a hope, that she can add anything to the 

 learning and research which distinguish the science: as a humble follower 

 of those who have added so much to our information on these subjects, she 

 would walk in their delightful paths, and gather some of those objects of 

 beauty which lie scattered around her. To endeavour to place them in an 

 attractive form — to attach to them useful and accurate information — has 

 been her pleasing task; and she will be amply rewarded if she should be 

 the means of affording any encouragement, particularly among her own 

 sex, to a taste for botanical pursuits. One of our greatest philosophers has 

 declared a "Garden to be among the purest of human pleasures"; and if 

 we look for a still higher sanction — we have the divine command to 



" Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." 



There is no pursuit which fills the mind with more noble and exalted 

 sentiments than the study of these works of Nature :— wherever we turn 

 our attention, we shall discover in them ample lessons of instruction and 

 delight; in the structure of every plant, we shall find the most exact 

 symmetry, and the most perfect contrivance — and the more minutely we 

 examine, the more decided traces we discern of that Power 



" Who planned, and built, and still upholds a world 

 So clothed with beauty." 



The gratification to be derived from such pursuits, is heightened by con- 

 siderations like these, and their utility and value are rendered still more 



