INTRODUCTION. 
ageregate, of which EL. tergloviense, like E. Chamissonis and the 
rest, 1s but a local development. It may; however, be taken as 
sure that, so far as it goes, this book does mark a real and arduous 
stage in the progress towards correctness of name, without which 
our widening gardens will become ever more and more a welter 
of confusion. IfI were to quote all the authorities I have ravaged, 
the volume would swell appreciably in length. Ledebour gives 
the foundations of knowledge for Russia and Siberia; Boissier 
(Flora orientalis) and Halaczy unveil many a treasure of the 
Levant ; Cheeseman deals with New Zealand; Asa Gray, Nelson, 
and others with the various ranges of North America; the Alpine 
ranges of Europe need no bush, Dalla Torre, Hegi and Dunziger, 
Fiori and Paoletti, Bonnier, each contributing stores of knowledge 
(and most especially L. Marret’s wonderful new series of Icones 
plantarum alpinum, with its series of photographs for each species, 
and full map of its distribution) ; Hooker affords us a remote de- 
spairing glimpse across the wealth of Himachal; Couttinho on 
Portugal, Briquet on Corsica give the very latest news; while 
Willkomm for Spain offers a firm foundation of knowledge. 
Vast gaps are still left, of course. Hope writes great notes of inter- 
rogation and exclamation down all the long line of the Andes, and 
inner China is falling uncharted into our fingers; and Tasmania 
confronts us with a list of possibilities that are little more than 
names. None the less this book has dredged the greater part of 
all hopeful lands, and in certain groups has been able to come to 
very close grips. Delphinium offers a choice of the best in Huth’s 
monograph. By the light of Jakovatz I have tried to decipher 
the Acaulis group of Gentian. Phlox, Geranium, Erodium; and 
Polemonium represent the last words of the Pflanzenreich: more 
important still, Primula gives an even more recent recension of 
this vast and brilliant race, while Saxifraga, thanks to Professor 
Balfour’s unpublished notes; holds out a number of clues in the 
cloudier sections of the family ; to say nothing of the priceless 
help afforded me in Crocus and hardy Cactus, by the Crocus-king, 
H. A. Bowles himself. 
Very soon, however, in the task of discovering truth, I came 
X1x 
