PREFACE. 



THE object of the following pages is to give 

 a brief and popular view of that branch cf 

 botany and physical geography, which is com- 

 monly termed the Geography of Plants ; a 

 study which is yet in its infancy, but respect- 

 ing which enough is known, both as to facts 

 and laws, to render it one of no common 

 iiiterest. The mere enumeration of botanical 

 names has been carefully avoided, especially 

 in describing the floral features of foreign 

 countries, where the mention of such plants 

 as are generally unknown here would have 

 been unintelligible without figures, or descrip- 

 tions of a length precluded by the limits of the 

 work. Such plants only, therefore, have been 



