INTRODUCTION. 35 



Bab. Man.)" means, that the species is figured under the name here adopted 

 (Thalictrum minus) at plate 11 ; tliat what is here considered as the same 

 species includes the plant figured plate fill of that work under the name of 

 Thalictrum majus, and the plant described in Babington's Manual, under 

 the name of Thalictrum Jlexuosum. So under the Yellow Cort/dal, or 

 Corydalis lutea, the reference "(Fumaria, Eng. Bot. t. 588)" means, that 

 the species is figured in 'English Botany' under the name of Fumaria 

 lutea, the specific name not being different is not repeated in the reference. 

 In these synonyms, as such references are commonly called, Hooker and 

 Amott's 'British Flora' is designated by the abbreviation Brit. Fl. Popular 

 names of the species are also included in the same parenthesis. 



The synonyms are followed by a paragraph describing the species. In 

 these descriptions it will be observed that when another species of the same 

 genus is referred to, the generic name is, for shortness, indicated by its 

 initial letter, and the specific one is printed in italics, to avoid confusion 

 with a descriptive epithet. Thus under the Yelloio Thalictrum, "fewer 

 than in the lesser T." means, fewer tlian in the species called the Lesser 

 Thalictrum. 



The next paragraph contains : 1st, The indication of the geographical area 

 of the species. This has only been done in a very general nanner, and more 

 especially with regard to its distribution in countries the nearest to Britain ; 

 for it would have been quite foreign to the purpose of this work to attempt 

 to fix, with any precision, the limits of the areas remote from Britain. 

 Generally speaking, the species indicated as extending to southern Europe 

 penetrate more or less into Africa; if reacliing the Caucasus, they often ad- 

 vance more or less into Persia and Arabia, etc. 2ndly, The distribution m 

 Britain. These are also given in general terms, the object being to give the 

 reader some indication whether the species to which he refers the plant he 

 has been examining, is Ukely to have been growing in the place where he 

 found his specimen. Directions to precise localities occupy too much space 

 for any but very local Floras, or Botanists' Guide-books. Exceptions are 

 of course made for plants only known in a single locality. In all these 

 indications Britain is meant to include Ireland. The Channel Island 

 plants are only mentioned when they are not also found on the main 

 British Isles. 



These stations ai-e followed, in the same paragraph, by the period of, 

 flowering, printed in italics. The season is generally given rather than the 

 month, as the flowei-ing of plants always varies with the season. A spring 

 flower wliich may appear in the beginning of March in a favoured situation 

 on the south coast of England, may not open tiU May in the Highlands of 

 Scotland. These periods of flowering, derived from personal observation or 

 from the best sources I had at hand, must however be taken with con- 

 siderable allowance, for they are Uable to much variation, according to 

 local or temporai-y influences ; and at any rate they can never be depended on 

 for specific distuictions. In general, spring flowers may be said to blow in 

 March, April, or May, in the south of England ; summer flowers in Jime, 

 July, or part of August ; autumnal ones in the end of August, September, 

 or part of October. After the middle of October, and until the beginning 

 of March, there are but few besides occasional stragglers in flower: towards 

 the North, the flowering season is much shorter, and particularly the early- 

 flowers open later. 



Observations on varieties, etc., are reserved for the conclusion of the para- 

 graph. The plants described as species in the ' British Flora,' or in the 



