PREFACE. 
Since the publication of this elementary work, the science of which it treats 
has been introduced, as a study, into many of our principal female schools ; and 
in the various applications for teachers, from different parts of the country, an 
acquaintance with Botany is now often made an indispensable qualification. 
The four different editions which have been issued having been disposed of, 
the author and publisher are encouraged to spare neither labour nor expense in 
rendering this fifth edition of the Lectures more worthy of that approbation 
which the public has so liberally bestowed. In compliance with the request of 
many teachers, the " Descriptions of Genera and Species," are now made to 
include all those native and foreign plants which the pupil will be likely to meet 
with in any part of the United States. "We except many of the Cryptogamous 
plants, Grasses, and some species of the Aster, Solidago, and other genera, where 
the species are numerous, and the distinctions between them of a doubtful char- 
acter. The author has been anxious not to omit southern and western plants of 
any interest, as the work is so extensively used in those regions. Should teach- 
ers or students observe such omissions, communications on the subject made to 
the author or publisher, would be gratefully received. 
In the first edition, the Descriptions of Genera and Species wen li.nited to a 
few of our most common plants. These, by the permission of Professor Eaton, 
were taken verbatim from his " Manual of Botany." The author has now 
thoroughly revised the Descriptions of Plants; for the numerous additions made, 
she is indebted to several American works, especially to the " Botany of the 
Northern and Middle States," by Dr. Beck, and also to the Descriptions of Tor- 
rey, Bigelow, and Elliot. For foreign plants, Eaton's Manual, Withering's 
British Plants, Loudon's Encyclopedias, and some other works, have been con- 
sulted. 
The name of the Natural Order is connected with the name of each genus 
under the head of Descriptions of Species ; indeed, the subject of the natural 
affinities of plants is kept in view through the whole work, although the artificial 
system is considered by the author as the groundwork of botanical knowledge. 
The origin of the generic name is also given, as far as this could be ascertained 
with any degree of certainty. 
