BRITISH WILD FLOWERS 
INTRODUCTION. 
It is not the object of the present work to teach the science of 
Botany, or even to furnish a treatise upon the natural history and 
classification of the flowering plants of the British Islands. The 
first, like all other branches of natural knowledge, is an abstruse 
and complicated study, to which there is no ‘royal road/ and the 
pursuit of which, however pleasing, involves the diligent perusal 
of many volumes, with close and unremitting attention to that 
Great One whose pages lie ever open before us: the last, though 
a less comprehensive subject, would demand far more space for its 
elucidation than can be accorded to it here. Intended merely as a 
volume of reference for the field-botanist, the country resident or 
summer rambler, when works of more pretension are not at hand, 
our book can comprise little more descriptive matter than is abso¬ 
lutely necessary, with the assistance of the plates, to identify each 
plant. Those who are desirous of acquiring an intimate knowledge 
of the structure and affinities of the vegetable kingdom we must 
refer to the compendious treatises of Lindley, Balfour and others; 
while the student of the British Flora will find detailed descrip¬ 
tions of each species, and most of the information that has been 
accumulated on the subject, in the ‘ English Botany ’ and other 
b 
