peefacb; vii 



Mantksce, m.i'8urr(ma VegetahlKurnSdandinaiiia;. It is 

 neoessar^' to warn stuflents against tte verj^'ebmmdn etror 

 of' supj)osing' that they have found one of the plants ' de- 

 scribed in a foreign Flora -when in I'eality they have oiily 

 gathered a variety of sdme ■weU-Vnown British plant.' The 

 risk of falling into such errors renders it necessary tO''cbii- 

 sult such works as' those of Messrs. Bbreaiu and Jordan with 

 great caution, lest we should 'he misled by descriptions, most 

 accurate; indeed^' but often rather those of ihdividuals than 

 species. Amongst plants so closely aHied'as are -many 

 of th6se called' Species in' some centinental ' works, it" is 

 aoaroely possible to 'arrive at a certain conclusion: without 

 the inspectioii of Authentic specimens. '" ' 



The Author -tak*s I this opportunity of returning most 

 sincere thanks to his botanical friends and correspondents 

 (far too numerous to record by name) for the great assist- 

 ance they have rendered to him try' the coihmunication. of 

 valuable suggestions, observations, and specimens. 



The book has been carefully re'vised throughout, so as,' 

 if possible, to keep pace -with the rapidly advancing know- 

 ledge of British plants. 



As many as possible of the real English names are given. 

 All the genera and species could not be thus nanied, o-wing 

 to the absence of any recognized English terms which have 

 been applied to them. It does not seem desirable to invent 

 or adopt new English names, known only to botanists, for 

 the few genera which have them not, the Latin name being 

 sufB.cient in those cases, and better in the original than in 

 an Anglicized form. 



As the portability of this volume is perhaps its most 

 valuable quality, the Author cannot accede to the wishes 

 of some young botanists by prefixing a short Introduction 

 to Botany. Sufficient space is wanting to admit of its pos- 

 sessing that fulness of detail without which such an In- 



