IV 
INTRODUCTION 
if we may be allowed the expression, the "American Flora" is a 
Biography of Nature, and that too of her most lovely works ; and 
the faithfulness of its records may be relied upon, It describes 
minutely the peculiarities of the several classes, and their method 
of propagation ; it unfolds their beauties in the spring and summer 
of their lives, their grandeur and magnificence in maturity, and 
their innumerable capabilities of rendering pleasure, gratification, 
and service to man. It is a work classic in its conception, pleasing 
and instructive in detail, and scientific in conclusion. The accura- 
cy of the drawings, and their brilliant and perfect coloring, is one of 
its chief ornaments, — they place the reader at once in possession 
of the subject of his interesting enquiry. Its descriptive matter is 
plain and simple, disencumbered of all useless and unintelligible 
matter, but clear and explicit — intended, without the intense labor 
required on more elaborate works, to imprint on the memory an 
impression as perfect, but of much easier and more lasting reten- 
tion. From the practical knowledge and experience of the Author, 
its pharmacological observations are both extensive and important, 
and its medicinal information will insure its claim as a valuable 
acquisition to the library of the practitioner. It is a work of much 
care and research, where the very spirit of botanical science is ex- 
tracted from its countless integral, like the essential oils by distilla- 
tion from the sweet-scented leaves of the Rose or the Jassamine. 
It is no ephemeral of a passing day, as we have seen some, shining 
with a borrowed lustre from a sun that never intended to gild and 
brighten their leaves, but which have faded when his influence was 
withdrawn, and withered in the absence of his light. 
