Baxter's ' British phae;n^ogamous botany ' 59 



environment Baxter took particular interest in mosses and fungus 

 diseases ; he was made an Associate of the Linnean Society in 18 17 : 

 his Stirpes Gryptogamce Occoniensis was issued in 1825. 



Oxford Botany at this time was at its lowest ebb : Dr. H. Williams, 

 who occupied the Chair in succession to Sibthorp, was also Kadcliife 

 Libi-arian ; nothing is known of his botanical attainments ; the only 

 accommodation at the Gardens consisted of a building, originally 

 built for a conservatory, in the oldest sense of the term, and still 

 utilized as the Botanic Library. At that time it contained the 

 herbarium and the books of Sherard, Dillenius, and Sibthorp, and 

 also functioned as lecture-room when there were any classes. What 

 practical instruction there was was left solely in the hands of Baxter, 

 and given orally and informally. Access to a good collection of all 

 the older literature was an essential factor in Baxter's success, and 

 after twenty years of uphill labour he conceived the idea of himself 

 publishing a work on floral types, which would serve the purpose of an 

 elementary introduction to the systematic botany of the day ; this to 

 be issued on the lines of the subscription works, of the "coloured plate 

 and one sheet of text " pattern, as seen in many standard works of the 

 period, produced — like the Botanical Magazine — for "ladies, gentle- 

 men, and gardeners " ; the work to be carried out by local talent, and 

 produced as cheaply as possible. 



A trial part was issued as a prospectus in May, 1832, soliciting 

 subscribers ; it contained two plates {Frltillaria and Tulipa) with no 

 text, but with some letterpress on the cover : this part is curiously 

 reviewed as the real thing in Paxton's Hort. Reg. i. p. 6o5 (1832). 

 The price was to be a shilling coloured and sixpence plain : and the 

 work was designed to run to two volumes on " Elementary Types," 

 two on Oxford genera, and two on the remaining genera of the British 

 Flora, at an estimate of 500 or so. The labour of getting drawings 

 in hand proceeded throughout the summer of 1832, and the first full 

 parts were issued in September : each part was to contain four plates, 

 with sheets of text, filled on both sides — and the work to continue 

 steadily at the rate of a part per month. The issue was continued on 

 these lines, and maintained with uniform output to the end of the 

 series — ten years later; the total expenses averaged £300 each year. 

 The cover was inscribed : — " British, Flowering Plants, drawn from 

 Nature, and engraved under the direction of William Baxter, 

 A.L.S.. F.H.S., etc., Curator of the Oxford Botanic Garden^ 



The first plate was the Fritillary, abundant and well-known as 

 " Snakes' Heads " at Oxford, which with the second plate, the Yellow 

 Wild Tulip, are still admirably adapted as the simplest types of floral 

 organization for a beginner to study : the other two plates represented 

 the Avens and the Sweet Violet. The' first plates Avere not particu- 

 larly well-drawn, and were poorly coloured ; in fact, the plain copies 

 of the earlier figures are more satisfactory than the coloured ones ; 

 but essential details were figured separately, and the text was collated 

 from the general run of contemporary floras (Smith, Curtis, Hooker, 

 Withering, etc.) without any special originality beyond local records 

 and stations. 



At a later date (1837) the covers were inscribed : — " Figures and 



