OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM. 77 



Part II.— BOTANISTS AFTER LINN^US. 



LiNNiEUS was born in 1707, and died in 1778. He reformed 

 botany by establishing the binominal nomenclature, giving 

 short concise definitions to genera and species, estabhshing 

 classes and orders founded on a single easily perceptible 

 character, and greatly improving terminology. His " Species 

 Plantarum " was published in 1753, and a second edition in 

 1762, and his "Genera Plantarum," first edition, in 1737, and 

 second in 1742. 



The first author to work out the British flora according to 

 the ideas of Linnaeus was William Hudson, the first edition of 

 whose "Flora Anglica" was published in 1762, and the second 

 in 1778. After the publication of this work the binominal 

 nomenclature was universally used in England. 



Rev, John Wallis, born 1715, died 1793. The well-known 

 "Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland" was 

 published in two volumes folio in 1769. The first volume 

 contains a long list of rare plants and their localities, princi- 

 pally of species noted by the author himself in Tynedale. 

 These are omitted from Turner and Dillwyn's " Botanists 

 Guide" of 1805, but are fully cited in Winch's Flora. In a 

 few cases Wallis mistook the name of his species, but generally 

 he is quite reliable, and his fist may be considered as the first 

 substantial foundition of the flora of the county. 



Stephen Robson, born 1741, died 1779, published in 1777 

 a book entitled "The British Flora" (8vo, 330 pages). This 

 is in English, being in fact our first native flora written in 

 English in which the binominal nomenclature is used, two 

 years earlier than the first edition of Withering's " Botanical 

 Arrangement." It contains a synopsis of all the plants of 

 Britain (Cryptogamia included) arranged according to the 

 system of Ray, not after the Linnean classes and orders, with 

 an introduction containing an illustrated definition of technical 

 terms, and a comparison of the systems of Ctesalpinus, Ray, 

 Tournefoot, and Linnaeus, and a preface containing a short 



