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<< PREFACE. >o 



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qpr^HE ILLUSTRATED niCTIONATlY OP GARDENING alms at bein^ tlie 



best and most complete Work on Gardening and Garden Plants hitherto 

 /4^'\ ' published. Tlie aim is, indeed, a liigli one; bnt the Publisher, whose taste 

 n for Flowers has rendered the jjrodnction a labour of loye, has, on his part, 



^ spared no expense tlmt the Typography and Illustrations should be of a 



very high class. It is to be hoped that earnest efforts to attain accuracy, by 

 consulting the best Authorities, combined with no small amount of original research, 

 have contributed to render the matter of the Work not unworthy of the form in 

 which it is presented to the reader. The large number of Illustrations is an 

 important feature ; and it is believed that the figures quoted, and the references 

 given to various works — in which more detailed information is contained than is 

 desirable, or, indeed, possiljle, in these pages, ou account of space — will gi'eatly add 

 to the interest and value of the work." Considerable trouble has been taken in 

 revising the tangled synonymy of many genera, and in clearing up, as much as 

 possible, the confusion that exists in garden literature in connection with so many 

 plants, popular and otherwise. In the matter of generic names, Bentham and 

 Hooker's recently-completed " Genera Plantarum " has, with few exceptions, been 

 followed ; that work being the one which will, for a long time to come, undoubtedly 

 remain the standard authority on all that relates to generic limitation. With regard 

 to the nomenclature of species, I have endeavoured to consult the latest and most 

 trustworthy Monographs and Floras, and to adopt the names in accordance with them. 

 Now and then, certain plants arc described under their common garden names ; but 

 they will, in such cases, be also found mentioned under the genus to which they reaUy 

 belong. A case in point may be cited : Anoectochilus Lowii is given under Anoec- 

 tochilus, but the name it must now bear is Bossinia, and a reference to that genus 

 will explain matters pretty fully, as far as the present state of knowledge goes. 



