in botany, and Australian botany in particular, I thought the 

 advice good, and that a brief sketch of this phase of the work 

 might not be deemed out of place in my Address. 



CONCISE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN BOTANY. 



At the present advanced state to which our knowledge of 

 the botany of Australia has attained, one is apt to forget the 

 many excellent men who, at no small privations, and often 

 personal risk, first collected in these countries, and thus laid the 

 very foundation upon which we at present build. Therefore, 

 the following epitomized sketch in somewhat chronologic order 

 is offered to the student of botany. 



In most cases some species bear the name of the collector 

 or botanist who has assisted in the great work of collecting and 

 describing the plants of our flora. When the person's work is 

 under notice an example of such naming is recorded. This, 

 it is hoped, may assist to retain the name in mind, and 

 also give an enhanced interest in the plant itself. Objectiona 

 are often made to dedicatory names for plants, and most 

 certainly descriptive ones for species and varieties are far prefer- 

 able. The objection has mostly been brought about by the 

 habit of a few sycophantic botanists overloading their writings 

 with the names of persons who never assisted in the study of 

 botany, but by chance held some high position in the State. 

 No one, however, will be found to raise an objection to the 

 name of a person who has worked at the science being attached 

 as title to a plant. 



1688 and 1699. — The father of the science in Australia was 

 the celebrated buccaneer, Capt. Wm. Dampier, who in 1688 and 

 1699 collected plant specimens on the west and north-weat 

 coasts. These specimens seem to have been the first carried to 

 Europe, and it would appear that they were left undetermined 

 until they were worked out by Wm. Baxter the curator of the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden between 1813-1851. No plant seema 

 to bear the name of this excellent man, the Baxteria of Robt. 

 Brown being named after Wm. Baxter, who was a collector of 

 West Australian plants between 1823 and 1830. 



