Preface. xi 



native plants to a truly systematic placement ; but then endless 

 difficulties would have to be encountered in dealing with the large 

 remainder of the plants, after the characteristics of these miscel- 

 laneous and unsystematic groups had been exhausted. 



It was not deemed advisable, to burden this volume with 

 descriptive definitions of immigrated plants, as the book exceeds 

 already the space originally assigned to it ; but the majority of the 

 plants hitherto naturalized are of wide distribution in Europe, and 

 therefore descriptions of them are contained in any of the works 

 on the British flora, and these are readily accessible also here. A 

 list however of the non-Australian plants, permanently established 

 on Victorian soil already, is given towards the end of this volume ; 

 but with an admission only of those of their popular names, which 

 are neither ambiguous nor unmeaning. A vocabulary of botanic 

 expressions was also considered unnecessary for these pages, 

 because what little of wording was adopted from the ancien 

 languages for our present plain literary purpose became explained 

 simultaneously with the expositions of the analytic details of the 

 numerous woodcut-illustrations. Definite measurements of plants 

 or their organs have not been regarded as needful for descriptions 

 necessary to be brief; dimensions always range within wide or 

 uncertain limits, comparative data being quite sufficient for what 

 concerns us here at present. All the measurements of the 

 xylographic main-delineations are purposely kept to natural size, 

 diminuation of figures of plants being always objectionable as not 

 conveying a fair idea of their subject. Whenever any plants are 

 indicated as alpine, as maritime or as otherwise restricted, it is 

 to be understood, that they are thus far exclusively localized ; yet 

 it is to be remembered, that about one hundred species of our 

 phanerogamous lowland-plants ascend the Australian Alps, and 

 that a still larger number of our various inland-plants approach the 

 shores of our southern ocean. 



A few typographical and scriptorial errors eluded timely obser- 

 vation; but they seem so insignificant, that it was not deemed 



