This day is published, 

 WITH NEARLY TEN THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, 



Complete in One large Volume, Svo. Price 41. 14s. 6d. ; or in Nine Parts, 

 105. 6d. each ; or Thirty-six Numbers, 2s. 6d. each, for the convenience of those 

 who prefer taking the Work in small portions from the beginning : 



AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PLANTS; 



COMPRISING 



THE DESCRIPTION, SPECIFIC CHARACTER, CULTURE, 

 HISTORY, APPLICATION IN THE ARTS, 



AND EVERY OTHER DESIRABLE PARTICULAR RESPECTING ALL THE PLANTS INDIGENOUS, 

 CULTIVATED IN, OR INTRODUCED TO BRITAIN: 



Combining all the Advantages of a Linnean and a Jussieuan Species Plantarum, an Historia Plan- 

 tarum, a Grammar of Botany, and a Dictionary of Botany and Vegetable Culture. The whole 

 in English, with the Synonyms of the commoner Plants, in the different European and other 

 Languages]; the Scientific Names accentuated, their Etymologies explained ; the Classes, Orders, and 

 Botanical Terms illustrated by Engravings ; and with Figures of nearly Ten Thousand Species, ex- 

 emplifying several Individuals belonging to every Genus included in the Work. 



EDITED BY J. C. LOUDON, F.L.S. H.S., &c. 



The Specific Characters, &c. by JOHN LINDLEY, F.R.S. L.S. and G.S. &c. 



The Drawings by J. D. C. SOWERBJ, F.L.S. ; and 



The Engravings by R. BRANSTON. 



PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN. 



" Our general impression of the work is, that, taking it altogether, it is the most extraordinary that 

 has yet appeared on any branch of science. Extraordinary for the immense mass of information 

 condensed in so small a space ; extraordinary for the number and beauty of the engravings, and for 

 the extent of letterpress ; and extraordinary for the moderate price at which it is sold. We have the 

 essence of what, in the last edition of Millar's Dictionary, occupies four folio volumes ; in Sowerby's 

 Botany, plates to the value of 501. ; and in the Botanical Magazine, and Botanical Register, plates 

 which sell for upwards of 2007. ; besides a quantity of original matter, to which we shall presently refer, 

 and upwards of 200 engravings of plants which have never before been figured in this or in any other 

 publication. These engravings are made from dried specimens in the herbariums of Mr. Lambert 

 and of Mr. Lindley, and from living plants in the collection of Messrs. Loddiges ; and are not only an 

 important addition to botanical literature, but of themselves render the work a desideratum to the 

 scientific botanical collector. On the whole, Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants is a most invaluable ad- 

 dition to our literature : it will be more useful to beginners, and more instructive to general readers, 

 than any botanical work in any language ; and it will be as indispensible in a well-selected general 

 library as an English or Latin dictionary." Lit. Gazette, Oct. 31. 1829. 



" With the ' Encyclopaedia of Plants ' for a companion, which speaks of every vegetable produc- 

 tion, ' from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the wall,' we could range with 

 enthusiastic delignt, through groves and gardens, in the pathless forest, the broad savannah, or the 

 mountain glen ; and could find ' society, where none intrudes,' in the sweet companionship of 

 flowers, from their earliest germ to the full expansion of their beauties in the summer's sun. There 

 are two ways in which the study may be pursued ; and one of these, at least the study of botanical 

 prints and drawings, has little chance of coming into disrepute so long as the arts continue to advance, 

 as they are now doing, in accuracy of design and brilliancy of execution. In this way, by having a 

 numerous collection of good engravings, and descriptions of them, such as the work before us amply 

 supplies, it is quite possible to learn and know a great deal of botany without ever seeing a living 

 flower, or without ever experiencing the delight of a botanical excursion in the country. The ' En- 

 cyclopaedia of Plants' cannot fail to be an excellent guide ; for the accuracy of the descriptive details 

 will enable the student to identify every plant he meets with, from the forest tree to the tiniest moss ; 

 and without such minute knowledge it is impossible to proceed far in philosophical experiment and 

 discovery. There is one feature of the descriptive portion of the work to which we would call parti- 

 cular attention, as perfectly original, and exceedingly ingenious and useful. We are sorry, that we 

 cannot exemplify this, as its merits depend upon peculiar types, cast on purpose for the work, by 

 means of which a plant can be described in a space incredibly small Upon this invention, indeed, 

 the cheapness of the book mainly depends, as it saves some hundreds of pages of letter-press ; and as 

 the types are hieroglyphic, they speak to the eye, and are equally, if not more distinct, than words at 

 length. The extent to which condensed description, and, we may add, condensed engravings, have 

 been carried in the work before us, appears little short of miraculous, as trie reader will the more 

 readily comprehend from the fact, that it would require several hundred pounds' worth of books to 

 furnish all the information given here for four guineas and a half. The engravings alone, indeed, 

 must have cost, we should imagine, eight or ten thousand pounds, .and the other expenses probably 



