4 PREFACE. 



of Southern Europe, was first introduced into cultivation 

 at Kew. In 1853 Walter Plowden, Esq., H.B.M. 

 Consul at Massowah, Abyssinia, sent seeds from which 

 plants were raised, one of which was ultimately figured 

 in the Botanical Magazine (tt. 5223, 5224). 



Strelitzia Reginoe, a beautiful plant which almost 

 certainly preserves an unbroken descent at Kew, was 

 named by Sir Joseph Banks in honour of Queen Char- 

 lotte, who was a daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg- 

 Strelitz, but which, with characteristic modesty, he 

 allowed the elder Alton to publish. Banks had intro- 

 duced it to the Royal Gardens in 1773 from the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



Strelitzia Augusta was introduced in 1791 by Francis 

 Masson, the botanical collector for the Royal Gardens, 

 where it has been cultivated ever since. It may have 

 been named in compliment to the Princess Augusta, 

 mother of George III. 



The collection is dispersed according to the habits of 

 the plants and the different treatment they require, 

 between the Palm House (No. I.), the Stove (No. IX.), 

 and the Water Lily House (No. XV.). A few are 

 represented in the Temperate House. 



Bromeliace^. 



The order of which the Pine-apple is a familiar 

 'representative ; the species are mostly epiphytal on 

 rtrees and exclusively natives of the New World. Ac- 

 'Cording to Alton's Hortus Kewensis, 16 species had 

 been introduced at Kew previous to 1813. In 1864 



