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which so brilliantly adorns our lawns in the early spring, was seen 

 by one of our countrymen in America sedulously cherished in a 

 pot, and greatly admired by its cultivator, who had never seen 

 it growing in its native soil. Indeed many of our common plants 

 would well deserve a place in our gardens were they not so 

 common, and we so accustomed from their very frequency to 

 pass them over. 



But to keep to our own country. No doubt there are some 

 weeds, such as Shepherd's Purse, Groundsel, Chickweed, 

 Dandelion, certain Thistles, a few Grasses, &c., which are 

 universally distributed and everywhere plentiful thi-oughout 

 Great Britain. But this is not the case with all. And it is an 

 interesting question for the botanist to consider, as bearing upon 

 the important subject of the geographical distribution of our 

 native plants, why certain species which are so abundant in 

 most parts of the kingdom as to be accounted troublesome 

 weeds, should yet be totally deficient in some particular districts. 

 It is equally interesting to notice, as we journey on in our 

 botanical rambles, where these same weeds become scarce, and 

 where they finally disappear ; whilst, it may be, new weeds 

 which we had not seen before, spring up in their places, taking 

 the same possession of the soil as the old ones. 



Now these inquiries can never get their right answer, unless, 

 when studying the Flora of any country, we give the same 

 attention to the commonest plants that we naturally give to the 

 rare ones. If we look into the "Flora Bathoniensis " we shall 

 find a few instances in which, clearly, there have been oversights 

 of the kind I am alluding to ; that is to say it has been 

 overlooked that certain weeds, common — some extremely 

 common — in most parts of England, seem to be almost or 

 entirely wanting at Bath. The circumstance is worth pointing 

 out, though it detracts little or nothing either from the general 

 usefulness of this book to Bath botanists, or from the reputation 

 of its author, who for so many years has ceased to reside in the 



