S5S 



Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis, §c. 



Editore et pro parte Auctore. Alphonso De Candolle. 



Pars 8 et 9, Paris 1844-45. 



It is now one-and-twenty years since the first volume of 

 this work was given to the world by the illustrious father 

 of the present editor. Seven years previous to that period, 

 viz. in 1817, he laid before the public the first volume of a 

 similar work, but on a much more extensive scale, under the 

 title of Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturalle, &c," in which 

 it was his intention to give — what was then a desideratum 

 in Botanical science — detailed descriptions, and an extended 

 synonymy, of the whole vegetable kingdom arranged accord- 

 ing to the natural system of classification. Finding how- 

 ever, that there was but little probability of his living long 

 enough to finish such a task, from the great research and 

 labour attending such an undertaking, it ceased on the pub- 

 lication of the second volume in 1821. These two volumes 

 contain an elaboration of the natural orders Ranunculacece, 

 Dilleniacece, Magnoliacece, Anonacece y Menispermacece, 

 Berberacece, Podophyllece, Nymphceacea, Papaveraceae, 

 Fumariacece, and Cruciferae / besides an enumeration of all 

 Botanical authors and their works up to that period. 



It was then that he determined on producing the present 

 work, which was intended to contain only the essential 

 characters of the genera and species of all known plants, 

 with a few select synonomes. From the time of the publica- 

 tion of the first volume in 1824, up to the period of the 

 author's death in 1841, seven volumes appeared at irregular 

 intervals. Nearly the whole of his time was devoted to it, and 

 unlike most systematic Botanical works which have appear- 

 ed during the present century, it is not a compilation merely 

 of what was already known, but each natural order was 

 worked up with great care, and all new species which the 

 author had access to were accurately described. In a few 



