EDITOE'S PEEFACE 



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This English reproduction of Le Maout and Decaisne's work differs from 

 the original published in Paris in 1868, first and mainly in the Natural Orders 

 of Flowering Plants being arranged more nearly in the sequence followed in 

 England and its dependencies, in the United States, and over the greater part 

 of the Continent : — a course necessary to adapt it to the use of schools, 

 universities, and the keepers of herbariums, botanical museums and gardens, 

 in all English-speaking countries. This sequence, which is that originally 

 proposed by De CandoUe, and adopted with modifications by himself and 

 by most classifiers, is further, in the opinion of the Editor, on the whole, 

 the best linear arrangement hitherto devised. 



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The sequence of the Orders followed in the original is that of the late 

 accomplished Professor Adrien de Jussieu, son of Antoine-Laurent de 

 jussieu, the establisher of the Natural Orders of Plants upon the principles 

 his uncle Bernard had devised. This sequence has been but partially 

 adopted, even in Paris, where, although the lectures on the Natural Orders 

 given at the Jardin des Plantes are conducted in accordance with it, the 

 plants in the garden itself are arranged according to that of Professor 

 Adolphe Brongniart (see p. 165). 



To ren-der this part of the work complete, and to facilitate its use, I 

 have added in an Appendix — what is a great desideratum in the original 

 a Conspectus of the Orders arranged under groups (cohorts), accord- 

 ing to their af&nities, in so far as this is practicable in a linear series. 

 These groups are analogous to the ' alliances ' devised by Lindley for his 



