96 The British Flora. 



second edition has since appeared. The Flora Britannica and Com- 

 pendium of Smith, a translation of the latter by Galpine, Thornton's 

 British Flora (a work known to us by name only,) Gray's Natu- 

 ral Arrangement of British Plants, Salisbury's Botanist's Companion, 

 the two works at the head of this article, the Compendium of the 

 English Flora, Lindley's Synopsis of the British Flora, in two edi- 

 tions; with five full-sized editions of Withering' s Arrangement, and 

 three smaller ones by Macgillivray, make up a number of publica- 

 tions, inclusively of different editions, during the present century, 

 equalling the whole number of those heretofore published ; and two- 

 thirds of which have appeared in the course of the last twelve years. 

 The two standard works of plates, illustrating our native species, 

 English Botany and the Flora Londinensis, were commenced in the 

 last century ; but a new issue of the former is now in progress. 

 Other illustrative works are also publishing in periodical numbers. 

 We may date the present era of British botany from the publica- 

 tion of the first volume of the English Flora, in 1824 ; since it can- 

 not be doubted but this work gave a decided impulse to the study 

 of British plants, by presenting a standard and authoritative work, 

 in our own language ; calculated to supersede that of Withering ; 

 which was useful enough in its day, but is now almost obsolete as a 

 work of science, although bearing a name still very good for the book- 

 market. The latter works, now in regular use, are those of Lind- 

 ley, Hooker, and Macgillivray ; all, probably, founded upon and 

 partly copied from the English Flora. We do not say this in ob- 

 jection to these works, it being impossible to make an original Flo- 

 ra of Britain ; and we apprehend that Mr Macgillivray has been the 

 more judicious in not copying Withering too implicitly. Dr Lind- 

 ley published his Synopsis of the British Flora much about the same 

 time (a year earlier, by the title-pages and preface) that Dr Hooker 

 was preparing his British Flora. It differs from the Compendium 

 of the English Flora, chiefly by following the example of Gray, in 

 making an entire change of arrangement from the Linnean to the 

 Jussieuan system, improved and modernized into what is now known 

 as the " Natural System." The introduction of characters or de- 

 scriptions of the orders necessarily accompanied this change, as well 

 as many alterations in the descriptions of genera, with some few 

 amendments in those of species. Frequent changes of name are also 

 made ; but the specific definitions are mostly copied from Smith's 

 works. On the whole, there is a good deal of instructive novelty in 

 the synopsis ; but having been stereotyped, farther improvement is 

 prevented, and editions succeeding to the first will fall behind the 



