vi PREFACE. 



Fuchsia, and of various tissues of Echinocystis ; 

 Professor H. L. Smith, of Hobart College, New 

 York, contributed the sketch of the classification of 

 the Diatomaceae ; Dr. T. P. Allen furnished a synop- 

 sis of the classification of the Characeje ; Dr. B. D. 

 Halsted also furnished material and notes upon our 

 native species of Characese ; my colleague, Professor 

 W. H. Wynn, kindly determined some of the more 

 difficult etymologies ; to my wife I am deeply in- 

 debted for efficient aid in the laborious tasks of 

 proof-reading and indexing. 



Should this book serve to interest the student in 

 the study of plants as living things, should it succeed 

 in directing him rather to the plants themselves than 

 to the books which have been written about them, 

 should it contribute somewhat to the general read- 

 er's knowledge of the structure and relationship of 

 the plants around him, the objects kept in view in its 

 preparation will have been attained. 



C. E. B. 



April 12, 1880. 



PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. 



THE second, third, and fourth editions, appearing respec- 

 tively in 1881, 1883, and 1885, contained a considerable num- 

 ber of corrections and additions. In the fifth edition (1888) 

 that modification of the second, third, and fourth branches 

 of the Vegetable Kingdom (Zygophyta, Oophyta, and Carpo- 

 phyta) previously used in the "Essentials of Botany," was 

 adopted, and a number of important paragraphs were added 

 as foot-notes. The changes in the present edition, a dozen 

 or so in number, include some additions and a number of 



corrections. 



C. E. B. 



UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, 



LINCOLN, April 18, 1889. 



