Natural History of Plants. 219 



described to him merely as " native of England, and the 

 temperate countries of Europe, where it is used to form 

 hedges ; " or of the primrose, were he merely told that it 

 " inhabits the banks and bottoms of the said hedges ? " How 

 could he picture to himself the beauty of our enclosures in the 

 month of May, when every spray is powdered with blossom, 

 and the whole country perfumed with fragrance ; or of our 

 sequestered dells bespangled all over with the gay tufts of 

 the latter ? We are in similar ignorance with respect to most 

 of the favourite inhabitants of our gardens. Who has seen 

 the crocus, the tulip, the hyacinth, the anemone, in their 

 native habitations ; or if these old acquaintances are too fami- 

 liar to be enquired about, where do the beautiful family of Ama- 

 ryllis grow, of which we are yearly receiving new varieties from 

 South America ? I read of one that it is " native of Brazil ; " 

 of another, that it was found on the Andes, or the Organ 

 mountains ; but whether in field or wood, in a moist or dry 

 situation, whether scattered sparingly or growing in luxuriant 

 abundance, I cannot conjecture ; and, for all purposes of cu- 

 riosity or cultivation, might almost as well be told that they 

 are " natives of the earth." All the little information I pos- 

 sess of the effect produced by plants in the great system of 

 nature, I have gleaned either from the conversation or writ- 

 ings of those who have visited foreign countries with other 

 objects m view. Your regular botanist deems it beneath him 

 to deal in any thing but barbarous Latin ; though when we 

 consider how many of these learned disquisitions have been 

 set aside by succeeding discoverers, and how probable it is 

 that, when our knowledge of the vegetable creation shall have 

 approached nearer to perfection, the whole nomenclature of 

 botany may undergo a complete revolution, it seems desirable 

 that scientific men should regard such matters rather as un* 

 avoidable, than as very entertaining or very important. I hope 

 some of your readers who have had an opportunity of ob- 

 serving the wonders of nature in other climates, will lend their 

 assistance in supplying the deficiency I complain of; and, that 

 an humble example may not be wanting, I may say, that being 

 in Switzerland and the north of Italy, the autumn before last, 

 I was much delighted with the beauty of the Cyclamen euro- 

 pse^um, which grew in the declivities of the Italian Alps, in an 

 abundance and luxuriance similar to that of the primrose in 

 this country, and in nearly the same circumstances, throwing 

 up its foliage and flowers from amidst the grass, and, in fine spe- 

 cimens, equalling in size the Ery thronium (Dog's-tooth violet). 

 The particular spots where I saw it were, the Mont Saleve, near 

 Geneva, and the sides of the mountains which surround the 



