REVIEWS. 



HARVEY'S SOUTH AFRICAN PLANTS. 



This volume ^ was written, printed in very handsome style, 

 and published at the Cape of Good Hope. It was prepared, 

 not, as we might suppose, for the purpose of making Cape 

 plants better known to European botanists, but for the use of 

 the students and lovers of flowers at the Cape. It is arranged, 

 moreover, according to the Natural System, and is throughout 

 a work of genuine science. Truly, if popular botanical works, 

 based on the Natural System, are deemed most advantageous 

 for students at the Cape of Good Hope, we may indulge the 

 expectation that this method will in due time be universally 

 adopted in Europe and the United States. Mr. Harvey, who, 

 while occupied with his duties as colonial secretary, has been 

 enabled to do so much for the botany of that rich and inter- 

 esting region, both by his own researches and by encouraging 

 the labors of others, was requested to recommend some intro- 

 ductory work on botany. 



Had a mere introduction to the elements of the science alone 

 been needed, the desideratum might easily have been supplied. 

 " But I soon found," says Mr. Harvey, " on cross-questioning, 

 that something very different was required. One lady told 

 me that she knew already what ' calyx, corolla, stamens, and 

 pistils, and all that ' meant ; and another had penetrated the 

 mystery of Monandria, Diandria, etc., and did not want to be 

 told that over again ; what they desired was a book in which 

 they could discover the names of every plant that struck their 

 fancy in rambling through the fields, — in short, a Flora 

 Capensis. Here I found myself completely at fault, for there 

 seemed little use in recommending the Flora of Thunberg, or 

 the more ancient writings of Burmann ; for even could they 

 be procured, which would not be without much difficulty, they 

 would have proved perfectly useless to my lady friends, who, 

 not being blue-stockings, could have derived little instruction 



^ The Genera of South African Plants , arranged according to the nat- 

 ural system, by William Henry Harvey, Esq. Cape Town, 1838. (Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science and Arts, xxxix. 173.) 



