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Coast, the fields abound with kinds so numerous, that a walk 

 of five miles in any direction would enable us to gather even 

 more in number than this book describes. 



Those persons, therefore, who suppose that Londoners cannot 

 study botany, labor under a very erroneous impression, as, in 

 fact, on no spot in the whole country are so many to be dis- 

 covered. The Thames and its tributary streams nourish most 

 of our Water Plants. The heaths and commons near Hamp- 

 stead, Wimbledon, Putney, Wandsworth, and Greenwich, are 

 rich in those favoring such situations. Caen Wood, Coombe 

 Wood, Norwood, and the districts around Dartford and Ro- 

 chester abound with Orchises and other curiosities. The 

 neighbourhood of Richmond, Twickenham, and Hounslow, are 

 particularly prolific in all kinds of Grasses, Sedges, Willows, 

 and Ferns. At Woolwich, Gravesend, Purfleet, and Erith, we 

 may gather a rich harvest of those plants which grow only upon 

 the chalk ; grass land, corn fields, marshes, and fallow ground, 

 are seen on all sides, while hedges and ditches encircle every 

 meadow and country lane. Should not these fruitful sources 

 of study damp our botanical ardour, the numerous rail-roads 

 that merge from the metropolis will rapidly convey us to more 

 distant localities ; and the steam boats enable us, at but a tri- 

 fling sacrifice of time and money, to procure the Sea Plants 

 which abound on the cliffs and in the salt marshes of the Isle 

 of Thanet. The above remarks, as to the facilities offered to 

 the inhabitant of London in studying botany, are made chiefly 

 to encourage those who would collect all which our island 

 produces. The plants described in the following pages are, 

 with but few exceptions, frequent in most places, and such as 

 can be procured with little trouble by all ; even by children in 

 their ordinary walks, country visits, and occasional excursions. 



