Till 
INTRODUCTION. 
that the plants should be described, which would only ren- 
der the volume more bulky without adding to its usefulness. 
Every one studying British botany, it is presumed, is in 
possession of one or other of the standard Floras, and there 
the characters and descriptions of the various genera and 
species are detailed at length. With a descriptive Flora in 
the one hand, and a local one in the other, therefore, each 
will perform its legitimate part ; and with these helps in the 
fields and woods, or on the mountains, the merest tyro in the 
study may soon become familiar with the native plants of 
his neighbourhood, or the jilaces he may visit in the course 
of his peregrinations. 
In the beautiful tribe of Ferns there is added a reference 
( N.) to the pages of Neivmaris British Ferns,* * * § where the 
species are described and exquisitely figured ; and to those 
of the PhytoIogist,f where that gentleman has published 
most admirable illustrated monographs of the Lycopodiacece 
and Equisetacece . 
For descriptions of the Mosses, Hepaticce, Lichens, and 
Cliaraceee, the pages of Hooker’s British Floral are re- 
ferred to. In the same volume, from p. 248 to p. 415, the 
Algce are described : and to part second (which forms a se- 
parate volume) § references are made to the pages where a 
descriptive account of the Forfarshire Fungi may be found. 
The period of flowering, where it differs from that in either 
of the above national Floras, must be understood to relate 
solely to what has been observed in this county. Experi- 
ence teaches us that no general rule (or what we usually 
consider such) is exempt from numerous apparent excep- 
tions ; and in this case the variations of the seasons, and the 
* A History of British Ferns, by Edward Newman, F.L.S. London, 
Van Voorst. 1840. 
+ The Pliytologist, a Popular Botanical Miscellany. London, Van 
Voorst. Published monthly. 
+ Hooker’s British Flora, vol. ii., part 1st. London, Longman & Co. 
1833. 
§ Hooker’s British Flora, vol. ii., part. 2d. By the Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 
London, Longman & Co. 183G. 
