Ml 



PREFACE. 



regard perseverance in error commendable, for the sake of what is 

 idly called consistency; he would rather see false views corrected 

 U the proof of their error arises. His object, and, he thinks he 

 may say thai of everyone else who has turned his attention to 

 this question of late, has not been to establish a system of his own, 

 which shall be immutable, but to contribute to the extent of his 

 ability towards that end. He indeed must be a very presumptuous 

 person, having a microscopically small acquaintance with his sub- 

 ject, who should even dream of being able to accomplish such a 

 purpose. All that we can do is to throw our pebbles upon the 

 heap, which shall hereafter, when they have sufficiently accumu- 

 lated, become the landmark of Systematical Botany. 



Having stated thus much by way of preface, it only now remains 

 to explain the plan of the work in its new form. Its object is 

 to gi\e a concise view of the state of Systematical Botany at the 

 present day, to show the relation or supposed relation of one group 

 of plants to another, to explain their geographical distribution, and 

 tn point out the various uses to which the species are applied in 

 differenl countries. The names of all known genera, with their 

 synonyms, are given under each Natural Order, the numbers of 

 the genera and species are in every case computed from what seems 

 to be the besl authority, and complete Indices of the multitudes of 

 names embodied in the work are added, so as to enable a Botanist 

 ti» knov< immediately under what Natural Order a given genus is 

 stationed, or what the uses are to which any species has been 

 applied. Finally, the work is copiously illustrated by wood and 

 glyphographic cuts, and for the convenience of Students, an 

 art ificial analysis of the system is placed at the end. Some of these 

 points demand a fev< words of comment. 



In offering to the public a view of the present state of System- 

 atical Botany, the Author has pursued the plan developed in the 

 succeeding pages, of first taking certain characters common to very 

 extensive assemblages of plants, by means of which Classes have 

 been constituted; and, secondly, of breaking up those Classes into 

 minor gronps called Alliances, whose common characters are also 

 more extensive than those of Natural Orders, and under which the 

 Natural Orders arc themselves assembled. Very short characters 

 have been proposed, under the name of Diagnoses, for both Alliances 

 and ( Mersj these are intended to express the prevailing tendency 

 obtenrable in each group, but do not include casual exceptions 

 RW Which the reader is referred to the descriptions immediately 



