XIV 
INTRODUCTION 
Use of asterisk and dagger 
An asterisk ( # ) in front of a name of a plant or group of plants signifies that that plant or group 
of plants is not indigenous in the British Isles. A dagger (t) in front of such name means that the 
indigenousness of the plant or group of plants is open to some doubt. Plants with no such sign are 
either indigenous, or are common weeds of cultivation which are taken as indigenous. 
Distribution maps 
It is impossible to give accurate distributional maps for every species. This is the case, for 
example, with regard to some critical species whose distribution has not yet been fully -worked out, and 
with regard to species which in some of their stations are indigenous but which in other of their stations 
are either intentionally planted or are mere strays from cultivation. In addition, maps are not usually 
given of species which occur, on the one hand, in only one British county, or which, on the other hand, 
are spread almost throughout the length and breadth of the country. As a rule, maps are not supplied 
for the non-indigenous species or for mere weeds of cultivation, though exceptions are made when the 
distribution of such species appears to be known with some degree of precision. 
Nomenclature 
The subject of the nomenclature of plants is one which seems to arouse the passions of certain 
botanists. We stated clearly in the Introduction to Volume II our own position. We pointed out 
(p. xi) that we adopted, in general, the International Rules, and mentioned where we departed from 
them. 
It cannot be said that the very few departures we make from those rules are of a revolutionary 
nature : on the contrary, our departures from the rules tend to stability of plant-names ; and that is why 
we make them. We venture to add that no botanical work of importance has been published, since the 
present International Rules were framed, which follows those rules so closely and so rigidly as the 
Cambridge British Flora. What then shall be thought of the intention of a critic, himself rejecting 
the International Rules in bulk, who glibly suggests that we only follow those rules when it suits our 
purpose to do so (see Druce in Bot. Soc. and Exch. Club Brit. Isles Report for 1914, p. 31, line 11) ? 
Under the circumstances, we take the opportunity of stating that our only purpose in this matter is the 
stabilisation and standardisation of commonly accepted plant-names. 
Multinominal , post-Linnaean books 
In the introduction to volume II, we dealt at some length with the matter of those botanical works 
which, though published at a later date than the Species Plantarum (1753), did not adopt the Linnaean 
or binomial method of naming plants ; and we gave our reasons for treating such books as pre- Linnaean, 
and thus for not accepting any of the names they contain. Although the subject had been discussed by 
Congress, it was necessary to consider the matter, as some recent botanists, with very doubtful wisdom, 
had departed from the custom of their predecessors and treated the books in question as if the names 
(or some of the names) they contained were quite valid. We ourselves suggested that the matter in 
dispute should be submitted for decision at the International Congress of Botanists, which was due to 
be held in London in May, 1915. The Congress, of course, was not held; and the matter remains in 
statu quo ante. Pending the decision of the next Congress (whenever it may be held), we shall continue 
our practice of ignoring all names in the multinomial works in question ; and our readers will be glad 
to know that such a course results in the maintenance of names which have become established in 
botanical literature and in the rejection of many names which some recent systematists have endeavoured 
to introduce. 
A list of such multinomial, post-Linnaean books is here given : it is probably incomplete as yet; 
and we shall be glad if botanists would draw our attention to any omissions they may notice, in order 
that a complete list may be supplied in due course. 
Miller Abridgment of the Gardener s Dictionary ed. 4 (1754). 
Hill British Herbal (1756). 
Patrick Browne Civil and Natural History of famaica (1756); ed. 2 (1789) which has Linnaean 
binomials added to the plates. 
Fabricius Enumeratio Methodica Plantarum Horti Medici Helmstadiensis (1759) ; ed. 2 (1763); 
ed. 3 (1776). 
