PREFACE 



The kind reception which was given to my Flora of Oxfordshire, 

 and the honour which the University of Oxford conferred upon 

 me on the completion of that work, led me, after ascertaining 

 that it was not likely that Mr. James Britten would ever publish 

 the Flora of Berkshire which he at one time contemplated, to 

 attempt the compilation of a similar work myself. 



The scanty leisure which a business life allows me has for the 

 last ten years been to a great extent occupied in visiting every 

 parish of the beautiful and varied district comprised in the Royal 

 county, and investigating its botany ; but it must be borne in 

 mind that however minute and assiduous the research of the 

 botanist in such a case may be, finality can never be attained, 

 since only a small portion comparatively of the actual surface of 

 the ground comes within his observation, and that only for a short 

 time. 



I believe, however, that the salient botanical features of the 

 county have been noted, and I hope that the account of the dis- 

 tribution of the commoner plants will be found in the main 

 trustworthy. The plan adopted has been to call a plant generally 

 distributed when I have found it in several j)laces in each of 

 a hundred parishes, and widely distributed when I have noted its 

 occurrence in from sixty to seventy parishes. This has enabled me 

 to save space by refraining from giving lists of localities for the 

 commoner species. In other instances a selection of localities 

 only is given, and a complete list only of the less common plants : 



