590 Macfadyen^s Floi^a of Jamaica. 



information are sent us, we will engage to publish them in a 

 manner creditable to all parties. 



Art. II. The Flora of Jamaica; a Description of the Plants of 

 thai Island, arranged according to the natural Orders ; tvith an 

 Appendix, containing an Enumeration of the Genera according to 

 the Linncean System, and an Essay on the Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of the Species. By James Macfadyen, M.D. Vol. I. Ra- 

 nunculaceae — Leguminosse. 8vo, 351 pages. 



This is a work that will be hailed with interest and pleasure 

 by all who have any connexion with our West India settlements ; 

 and there is even much in the work calculated to prove instruc- 

 tive to the practical gardener. We allude to Dr. Macfadyen's 

 judicious remarks on the nature, habits, and habitats of such 

 species as are cultivated in our stoves or green-houses. In new 

 editions of any general botanical and horticultural work, such as 

 Miller's Dictionary and our Encyclopcedia of Plants, this new 

 tlora of Jamaica will frequently be had recourse to, for the cor- 

 rection of errors, inadvertently committed by preceding writers, 

 as well as for original information. 



A systematic account of the plants of Jamaica, Dr. Macfadyen 

 observes, has long been considered a desideratum. " Hitherto, 

 the student of the botany of this island has been obliged to re- 

 sort for information to the voluminous writings of Sloane, Browne, 

 Jacquin, Plumier, Swartz, Cavanilles, Vahl, &c. ; many of which 

 are rare, and with difficulty procured, especially in a situation so 

 distant from Europe. The only work easily accessible was the 

 Hortiis Jamaicensis of Mr. Lunan ; a compilation which must 

 have been found very useful to every one who has endeavoured 

 to become acquainted with Jamaica botany. But, while I acknow- 

 ledge readily my obligations, especially during the early period 

 of my study, to that work, I must state that scarcely one half 

 of the plants at present known to be indigenous to the island 

 are noticed in it ; and that the descriptions are in general de- 

 fective, and not a few erroneous. To supply these deficiencies 

 has been my endeavour in the present undertaking." (p. v.) 



After stating the advantages of adopting the natural system 

 of arrangement in local floras, and acknowledging his obliga- 

 tions to preceding authors on the botany of Jamaica, he states 

 his own share in the work. It has occupied, he says, the greater 

 part of his leisure during a residence of twelve years in the 

 island ; during which period he studied the peculiarities of the 

 flora of every district ; examined the characters of every plant 

 within his reach ; and, during his almost daily rides as a medical 

 practitioner, he had opportunities of watching all the plants 

 that interested him, during the period of their flowering, and 

 till they perfected their fruit. The author modestly concludes 



