PREFACE. 



It is a common complaint among those who wish 

 to know something of Botany that they can make no 

 progress because the scientific names of plants are 

 so hard to learn, and it has occurred to me that 

 something might be done to lessen the difficulty. 

 It is much easier to remember names when they 

 convey some meaning than when they are not 

 understood, and the more information they convey 

 the less liable are they to be forgotten. I have 

 attempted in the following pages to explain the 

 scientific names of British plants in a popular 

 manner, so as to be useful to those who have no 

 knowledge of any foreign language. I have . also 

 attached, so far as I could, the oldest authority 

 for each name, in order to give an idea of 

 its history ; and, as this required some account 

 of the authorities themselves, I have divided the 

 work into two parts, the first of which is an 



