PREFACE. 



In explanation of the title which we have adopted, as the name of 

 Cybele may not, like that of Flora, be familiar to our readers, it 

 win be well to premise that Cybele was worshipped formerly as the 

 goddess of the Earth in Asia. Her name was first introduced in 

 connexion with modern botany by Mr. H. C. Watson, who con- 

 sidered that it might appropriately express the distribution of 

 plants upon the earth's surface, and who accordingly employed it 

 as the title of his great work, " Cyheh Britannica." 



The present work originated in a desire to furnish not only a 

 revised list of the wild plants of Ireland, but also a classified 

 summary of their localities. Thirty years having now elapsed since 

 the publication of Mackay's "Flora Hibemica;" within which period 

 many additions have been made to Irish Botany, many plants 

 have become better known, and the range of others has been 

 greatly extended. With the view of meeting the requirements 

 of .Geographical Botany, we have endeavoured to arrange our 

 materials somewhat after the plan of Mr. Watson's " Cybele Britan- 

 nica" {whence our title) ; and thus we hope that the details collected 

 will be found methodized in such order as to be available to those 

 who study the range of plants, while the traveller will also be able 

 to use our book as a botanist's guide through Ireland. With three* 

 excellent and portable "Floras" in the hands of British Botanists, 

 it has been thought unnecessary to draw up fresh descriptions of 

 the Irish species ; this would have too much increased the bulk of 

 our volume without adding to its usefulness. And, as some addi- 

 tional species may be hereafter found in Ireland, we believe that 

 the use of some book containing descriptions of the entire series of 

 British plants will be found advantageous. 



* Hooker and Amott's British "Flora." Babington'a "Manual of Brilish Botany." 

 Bentham's "Sandbook of the British Flora." Dr. Steele's "Handbook of Field 

 Botany" will also he found a convenient pocket companion. , 



