PREFACE. 
In presenting the following work to the public, the author 
trusts that he has, at least in part, supplied, what has long 
been considered a desideratum — a Systematic Account of the 
Plants of Jamaica. Hitherto the student of the Botany of 
this Island has been obliged to resort for information to the 
voluminous writings of Sloane, Browne, Jacquin, Plumier, 
Swartz, Cavanilles, Vahl, &c., many of which are rare, and 
with difficulty procured, especially in a situation so distant 
from Europe. The only work easily accessible, w r as the 
Hortus Jamaicensis of Mr Lunan, a compilation which 
must have been found very useful to every one who has 
endeavoured to become acquainted with Jamaica Botany. 
But while I acknowledge readily my obligations, especially 
during the early period of my study, to that work, I must 
state, that scarcely one-half of the plants at present known 
to be indigenous to the Island are noticed in it, and that 
the descriptions are in general defective, and not a few' 
erroneous. To supply these deficiencies, has been my 
endeavour in the present undertaking. 
In the arrangement of this work the Natural System has 
been adopted. By it the various members composing the 
Vegetable Kingdom are arranged according to the order 
which Nature herself appears to have followed. By it the 
genera are collected and disposed in groups, not from any 
relation existing in respect to any one particular class of 
