DESCillPTIVE BOTANY. 



165 



racters, without in one instance correctly signifying the situa- 

 tions. 



^58. 



If the first and most celebrated example of this kind is t© 

 be followed, as it was given by Linnaeus in his Flora of Lap- 

 land, the qualification* for the undertaker of such a labour 

 must be of a yet higher nature. 



First of all, it is necessary that the compiler should be ac- 

 quainted with the labours of his predecessors, — that he should 

 study them, correct the synonymes, and point out the changes 

 which vegetation has since experienced. 



To this should succeed a general natural history of the 

 region, an account of the soil, the mountains, and particularly 

 of the mountain rocks which make their appearance there, — 

 of the meadows, forests, seas, marshes, pools, and streams. 

 The degree of latitude, and the height above the level of the 

 sea, are supposed to be known. It is only when such a pic- 

 ture has been sketched, that the reader can form to himself 

 a distinct idea of the nature of the region. The knowledge 

 of the mountain rocks is especially important, in order that 

 we may perceive .bow vegetation varies with them. For this 

 purpose, it will be very useful to institute a comparison with 

 the vegetation of neighbouring regions, or of such as lie in 

 the same latitude with the described region. 



The order in which plants are treated of, may either fol- 

 low the Linnasan System or the Natural Method. But, above 

 all, the compiler of a Flora ought to admit no plant which he 

 has not himself found in its place, because, otherwise, innu- 

 merable deceptions, and such as are scarcely credible, will be 

 occasioned. He ought also never to transcribe the character 

 of genera and species, but to develope it himself according to 

 the examples lying before him. New species, which have not 

 yet been described, must be defined in the most careful man- 

 ner, and if possible, ^they should be figured. It will also be 

 of much use to beginners, that the properties of plants, and 



