yi PREFACE. 



of Plants, but is designed merely to give a general idea of 

 the distribution of the vegetable kingdom into families, 

 &c., with a cursory notice of their structure, distribution r 

 properties, and principal useful products. The student 

 who desires to become acquainted, as he should, with the 

 plants that grow spontaneously around him, will neces- 

 sarily use some local Flora, such, for example, as the au- 

 thor's Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States. 

 For particular illustrations the botanist may advantageous- 

 ly consult the Genera of the Plants of the United States, 

 illustrated by Figures and Analyses from Nature, of which 

 two volumes have been published. 



By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, the figures No. 20-22, 33, 37, 105-110, 130- 

 133, 135, 136, 159, 160, and 161-164, are copied from 

 original sketches made for the Introduction to a Report on 

 the Trees of the United States, now in preparation by the 

 author, for that Institution. 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, April, 1850. 



