tfs-a 



B I&1 



PREFACE. 



BOUT ten years ago, the late Dr. Babington, of Cockfield, sug- 

 gested to me that I should unite with him in preparing a paper 

 on the Botany of Suffolk. As I then understood him, it was 

 to be confined to the lately- discovered and hitherto-doubtful 

 Plants of the County. In fact, little more was to be attempted 

 than a Supplement to the Flora of Suffolk, published in 1860. 

 It was agreed that the paper should not be printed until the Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Suffolk, then in course of preparation, had been pub- 

 lished. The time occupied in the incubation and fledging of the Birds, 

 has been much longer than was expected ; yet it has not been lost. It 

 has increased the number and variety of the Birds, and has enabled 

 them to appear in more perfect plumage. The delay has had a more 

 beneficial effect as regards our present undertaking. It has enabled me 

 to obtain a larger acquaintance with the Plants of Suffolk : it has 

 introduced me to several eminent Botanists, who have given their atten- 

 tion to the local Flora, and who have willingly placed the results of their 

 inquiries in my hands : it has afforded me opportunity to examine 

 various Herbaria, in which were stored the harvests of other labourers 

 in the Suffolk field. It has also made it possible to attempt the issue 

 of a new Flora of Suffolk, which, with the restricted knowledge and 

 scanty materials of ten years ago, would have been impossible. 



Since the work was first taken in hand, each year has furnished its 

 tale of new plants discovered, new correspondences opened, new sources 

 of information revealed. There is no reason to suppose that any of these 

 has been exhausted ; but that, as time goes on, new materials will be 

 furnished and new labourers found ready to carry out the work now in 

 progress. The new Flora is therefore not to be regarded as a complete 

 and exhaustive work. It is only a step onward. Much yet remains to- 



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