INTRODUCTION. 



THTS work was undertaken at the request of some Members of 

 the Committee of the POPULAR EVENING CLASSES, to supply a 

 deficiency and obviate a source of regret which had long been 

 felt, that no Field-Book existed giving descriptions of the Wild 

 Flowers growing in the vicinity of Glasgow, which might be 

 useful as a Text-Book, and at the same time so moderate in price 

 as to meet the wants of all the Students who attend the POPULAR 

 BOTANICAL CLASSES in ANDERSON'S UNIVERSITY. 



The responsibility and risk of bringing out such a work seemed 

 to forbid the attempt being made ; but on this becoming known 

 to WALTER CRUM, Esq., President of the Institution, he gener- 

 ously offered to aid in its publication; therefore, to this gentleman, 

 and also to WILLIAM EUING, JAMES YOUNG, R. S. CUNLIFFE, 

 and MICHAEL CONNAL, Esquires, for their personal sympathy and 

 pecuniary assistance, the appearance of this work is due ; and the 

 Author tenders his sincere thanks to them, for himself, and also 

 for the young men, Students in these Classes. 



It is hoped that this Flora will be the means of stimulating and 

 diffusing a taste for the study of Botany amongst those young 

 Naturalists who are devoting a portion of their leisure hours in 

 making acquaintance with the pure and beautiful in Nature. 



In drawing up descriptions for a Flora such as the present, per- 

 manent characters are apt to be overlooked, and those taken which 

 are trifling, or produced by merely local circumstances; to prevent 

 this, it has been found necessary to compare the descriptions given 

 in our best works with the plants themselves, and to choose and 

 adopt the terms most suitable to the purpose, preferring where- 

 possible those most simple; but it is not to be considered that this 

 work is put forward as original, it is given only as a compilation. 



The "British Flora," from the excellence of its arrangement, 

 has been adopted as a standard in the following pages, and the 



