Preface. vii 



are already apparent ; but a line must be drawn somewhere, 

 and in the choice of species one is naturally influenced to a 

 certain extent by one's own knowledge and predilections. 

 Under each order, several of the showiest or commonest of its 

 members found wild in Britain are described or noticed. Ex- 

 ceedingly common plants are not technically described, for 

 the simple reason that it is wholly unnecessary ; but any in- 

 teresting facts, such as date of introduction, native country, 

 and other details respecting the changes years of cultivation 

 have effected in well-known plants, like the Dahlia and Aster, 

 are briefly noticed. Very rare plants, and especially those 

 species requiring considerable skill and experience to grow 

 them successfully, are usually mentioned without description. 

 In those instances where there are several often closely allied 

 species of the same genus in cultivation, the peculiar charac- 

 teristics of each species are as much as possible inserted in the 

 descriptions. It frequently happens that the genus of a plant 

 is well known, but from the similarity of species, or some other 

 cause, its specific identity is not ^o easily remembered, and 

 hence the value of a book of reference containing the infor- 

 mation sought. Plants vary so much under cultivation that, 

 without trustworthy evidence respecting their descent from 

 certain wild types, they would often be considered as specifi- 

 cally distinct from their progenitors ; and therefore all descrip- 

 tions must be accepted subject to the changes a plant is likely 

 to undergo under artificial conditions. To overcome this 

 difficulty as much as possible, the characters of the cultivated 

 plant are given or allusion made to the changes effected by 

 long culture. 



The information given under each species is culled from 

 various sources, as it was not practicable to have all the species 

 in a fresh state at the right moment ; but only the most trust- 

 worthy authorities have been consulted. It should be men- 

 tioned here, that although free use has been made of the 

 French work, even to the extent of translating some para- 

 graphs in their entirety, Messrs. Decaisne and Naudin are in 

 no way responsible for the alterations in nomenclature, limita- 

 tion of species, or any other changes that have been introduced. 

 Naturally, we might expect to find some errors in sifting a 



