FLORA OF OXFORDSHIRE. 393 
to very few Botanists. He was a frequent correspondent of Purton, 
Dr. Greville, Mr. Sabine, Mr. Borrer and the Rev. A. Bloxam. 
} In 1834 he published the first volume of British Phenogamous Botany, 
or British Flowering plants, with figures and descriptions of the genera. 
The plates are of unequal merit, but most of them are very good, and 
possess a special value, each being drawn from an individual plant, the 
locality or origin of which is usually stated. The text bears witness to 
Baxter’s keenness of observation, and to his untiring industry. Very 
numerous localities, many of which are original, are given for the rarer 
plants. The Fungi found on the various plants are also enumerated. 
Many of the plants and fungi are still preserved in the Oxford Gardens, to 
which they were presented by his son in 1884. In addition to his literary 
work, he was indefatigable in his arrangement of the gardens. He raised 
their level so that the floods which formerly did much injury were kept 
out. He got together a nearly complete collection of living British 
Grasses and Willows, and a large number of hardy herbaceous plants, so 
that for its size the Oxford Botanic Garden was one of the most celebrated 
in the Kingdom. 
In 1831 he revisited Rugby with his son, Mr. W. H. Baxter, for the 
purpose of ascertaining what plants grew in the neighbourhood. He 
contemplated publishing a Flora of that district, but never carried it into 
effect. Nearly 400 plants were noted by him, some being interesting, 
such as Radiola and Inula Pulicaria, Peplis Portula was also found in 
considerable abundance at Hill Morton. In his British Plants he says, 
‘How often is a little simple flower the source of most delightful and 
pleasing recollections! Hill Morton is the birth-place of my mother, and 
the circumstance of merely recording the name of this humble plant, 
after having seen it in such abundance in the place mentioned, seems to 
lead me back to the happy days of my childhood, many of which were 
spent amongst my relations and friends in that pleasant village.’ 
In 1832 a Natural History Society of Oxford was formed, Baxter taking 
« prominent part in its work. About this time he visited Thame and 
formed a small herbarium of the plants of that district. This included 
Rumex maritimus and Rosa systyla new to the county. Baxter con- 
tributed in conjunction with Mr. Ayres a paper on the Oxfordshire 
Cryptogams to the Phytologist, i.661, 702. On the death of Dr. Williams, 
in 1834, Dr. Daubeny was chosen Professor, and a re-arrangement of the 
gardens was at once undertaken. Baxter rendered considerable assistance 
to Rev. R. Walker in preparing the Flora of Oxfordshire, indeed, almost 
all the new localities in that work are owing to Baxter’s industry. In 
1851 Baxter retired from the active management of the gardens, being 
succeeded by his son, Mr. W. H. Baxter, who still worthily occupies the 
position. Mr. W. Baxter, according to the Gardeners’ Chronicle, had a 
trifling pension allowed him, ‘in amount quite inadequate to the merits of 
the recipient.’ His private life was beyond reproach, and his unassuming 
