PREFACE 



THE FIRST EDITION. 



THE following work contains a description of the plants of 

 Great Britain, compiled from the best authorities, together with 

 a brief Introduction to the Study of Botany, in which the prin- 

 cipal organs of vegetables are described and illustrated by 

 figures. In composing it, the author has kept several objects 

 in view, a want of attention to which has rendered the per- 

 formances of our most eminent botanists less useful than they 

 might have been. It has been wished by many persons that 

 botanical descriptions might be freed as much as possible of 

 foreign words, provided this could be done without sacrificing 

 the technical terms, which are in every science necessary for 

 preventing verbosity, and giving precision and perspicuity. A 

 compendious description of our native plants, sufficiently full to 

 enable the young botanist to determine the species that might 

 come in his way, and at the same time neither too bulky for use 

 in the fields, nor too expensive, has also been greatly desired. 

 Lastly, it were to be wished that such a work should contain 

 the means of enabling the beginner to examine plants without 

 the assistance of others. All these objects have been aimed at 

 in the present work. How far the compiler has succeeded will 

 best be determined by the public. It is unnecessary to be par- 

 ticular in pointing out the sources from which the materials 

 have been derived. The Arrangement of Dr. Withering was 

 proposed as a basis ; but his descriptions have frequently been 

 substituted by others, which are conceived to be more correct. 

 Every body knows how much the writings of the late Sir James 

 E. Smith, of Dr. Hooker, Lightfoot, and other English botanists, 



