PREFACE. 
Tux object of this work is to give a complete and accurate 
list of the plants which have at any time been recorded as grow- 
ing in Oxfordshire, either in a naturalised or more or less wild 
condition; to trace the history of their discovery, and to give 
the special localities where they have occurred. Many of these 
records are from the valuable collections in the Botanical 
Garden, or from rare books, and in some cases from MS. notes 
in copies of old works on Botany. 
It is now fifty years since Walker’s ‘ Flora of Oxfordshire ’ 
appeared, and although this was published nearly half a century 
after Sibthorp’s ‘Flora Oxoniensis,’ the additions made were 
not numerous, nor was plant distribution traced out with any 
degree of completeness. Since the time when it appeared such 
strides have been made in the knowledge of the structure, 
classification, and distribution of our wild flowers, that a 
general Flora of the County was much needed. 
Shortly after taking up my abode in Oxford, the MS. notes , 
which Mr. Alfred French, an employé of the British Museum, 
had made with an idea of compiling a Flora of Oxfordshire 
came (through his premature death) into my possession. 
Professor Lawson decided not to go on with the work, and at 
the request of the Director of the Botanical Department of 
the British Museum I undertook to do so. It will be well 
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