212 APPENDIX. 



mucli valuable and interesting information, wliicli cannot be 

 had from any other source; and if we remember what 

 scanty accounts had been previously published of British 

 plants, and plants that were commonly cultivated in this 

 country, we cannot but admire their great knowledge 

 of them, gained by direct observation, as well as their 

 industry and learning. I therefore add a few notes on these 

 old writers, and also a few others of matters that I had 

 either overlooked or that have recently come to my know- 

 ledge, in the hope that they may not prove without interest. 

 I am much indebted for several of these notes to a very 

 interesting " Sketch of the progress of botanical investiga- 

 tion in Middlesex, with biographical notices," appended to 

 the 'Flora of Middlesex,' by H. Trimen, M.B., and 

 W. T. T)yei% B.A.; and also for some fresh records of 

 Gerard and Parkinson to articles in the ' Journal of 

 Horticulture' about these old Herbalists. 



* The Grete Herbal.' 



" Several editions were indeed published, but without 

 improvements; that of 1526 is the best known. We have 

 seen copies dated 1526, 1529, 1539 (without figures). One 

 is said to have appeared so late as 1561." ('Flora of 

 Middlesex.') I have a tolerably complete copy of the edition 

 of 1561, which has no figures excepting two fanciful ones, — 

 ' Mandrake the male,' and ' Mandrake the female.' 



William Turner. 



I add a few notes about William Turner, who is known 

 as the " Father of British Botany." 



Living in the disturbed reigns of Henry VIII. , Edward 

 YL, Mary, and Elizabeth, and being a clergyman who took 

 a lively interest in the religious controversies of the time. 

 Turner alternately lived in England, with high preferments. 



