189 



COMPEISING THE 



llofecring flants anir |crns inirigcnous ta tl^e tatttg; 



By Thomas Bkttges Flowek, M.R.C.S., F.L.S., &c., &c. 



No. I. 



§T is intended to commence in the present number of the 

 Society's Magazine, the publication of a series of papers on 

 the " Flora of Wiltshire," principally with a desire to induce those 

 who may be at present unacquainted with its botany, and the 

 beautiful field of nature which their own county presents, to 

 study this most pleasing and instructive branch of Natural History. 

 It is one which treats of the complicated mechanism and wonder- 

 ful vital properties, of perhaps little less than 100,000 species of 

 organized beings. These occupy, as it were, the middle station 

 between the animal and mineral kingdoms, nearly allied to both, 

 endowed with powers which enable them to accommodate them- 

 selves to every variety of situation, mountain, valley, savannah, 

 desert, placid lake, or restless ocean ; and to flourish alike under 

 the scorching rays of an Equatorial sun, or through the enduring 

 winter of the Poles. By their rainbow hues, varied forms, and 

 delightful fragrance, they excite the imagination, and contribute to 

 the enjoyment of the most refined sense ; some scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished from the rock they clothe, some fragile and evanescent ; a 

 few hours embracing their periods of growth, maturity and decay ; 

 others rising in majestic grandeur, defying the blast, and affording 

 the shelter of their umbrageous arms to successive generations of 

 men. Again, another very important reason for adopting the pre- 

 sent form of publication, has been to enable all botanical friends 

 and correspondents to see exactly, not only what plants arc present 

 or absent from the county, but in what proportion the species are 

 rare or common, and from the localities quoted, to judge which 



