[vi] 



Humboldt and Bonpland's plants from Central and South America; 

 Martius, who was primarily concemed with the flora of Brazil, termed 

 it a liber aureus. The history of aestivation as a botanical character', 

 Asa Gray wrote in 1875, 'began in R.'Brown's 'Trodromus Florae Nov. 

 Holl." ' 



Although its sale on publication sadly disappointed Brown, the merits 

 of the Prodromus immediately won it the high regard of discriminating 

 botanists. Tn point of novelty of plant forms and structures which it 

 describes, accuracy in details, precision of language, wealth of obser- 

 vations, and far-reaching views of classification', Sir Joseph Hooker 

 said in 1888, 'it maintains to this day the unique position which was 

 assigned to it on its appearance. Furthermore, it is rightly regarded as 

 the complement to the great work of Jussieu in respect of the perfect- 

 ing and extending the natural system of plants, for it modified many of 

 the Jussieuan families, amplified others by hitherto neglected or mis- 

 interpreted characters of the highest systematic value, and illustrated 

 all that were described by observations obtained through a study of 

 the plants of other countries than Australia, and a profound knowledge 

 of the writings of his predecessors. I may cite, as notable examples 

 of this, his observations under or upon the Orders Marsiliaceae, Grami- 

 neae, Rutaceae, Scitamineae, Orchideae, Aroideae, Cijcadeae (where 

 their plurality of embryos is first indicated), Santalaceae, Acanthaceae, 

 Myrsineae, Epacrideae, Ericeae, and Goodenoviae. The 'Prodromus' 

 embraces 464 genera, of which nearly one third were described for the 

 first time, and upwards of 2000 species, three fourths of which were 

 new to science. *' * They are antipodean alike in character and country, 

 and yet three quarters of a century of further knowledge of the Austra- 

 lian Flora has in but a few instances disrurbed the position, limitation, 

 or diagnoses of the orders, genera and species contained in the 'Pro- 

 dromusV Such an assessment had the more weight in that Hooker, 

 by work on his Flora Tasmaniae (2 vols., 1855 — 60) and with Bentham 

 on their joint Genera Plantarum (3 vols., 1862 — 83), had himself dealt 

 at first hand with much the same material and problems as Brown had 

 earlier tackled. 



The most eloquent contemporary testimony of the esteem which this 

 work gained for Brown is the dedication of Kunth's Synapsis Plan- 

 tarum vol. 1 (1822), a work devoted entirely to American plants: 



