2 
INTRODUCTION. 
hope the time may arrive, though probably I shall not live to see it, when a knowledge of 
botany will be considered indispensable to every well-educated person. 
In the systematic arrangement of the plants contained in the present work, I have followed 
Dr. Lindley’s Synopsis of the British Flora , a most excellent and useful book, which no botanical 
student should be without; and though I have omitted several genera, it has only been those 
which either do not contain any ornamental plants, or only include such plants as are very rarely 
to be met with growing wild in Great Britain. As, however, some persons may wish to become 
acquainted with these, and all the other plants that I have omitted, it may be useful to refer 
them to the new edition of Sowerby’s English Botany, which contains the whole of the British 
Flora, and the plates in which are so accurately delineated as to be easily recognised, even by 
a common observer. 
In the Botanical part of the following pages, I have adhered principally to the Natural 
Arrangement, as that is the system now generally preferred by the best botanists, both in 
Great Britain and on the Continent; but, as some excellent books, particularly Sowerby’s 
English Botany, are still arranged according to the Linnsean System, I have added the Linnsean 
class and order to each genus, with a few words explanatory of the terms as they occur. I 
have done this because I often felt the want of some explanation of the Linnsean System 
myself, when I began to study Botany, having learnt the Natural System first. 
I have now only to add, that I earnestly recommend every person who wishes to become 
acquainted with Botany to pay as frequent visits to a Botanic Garden as possible, in order 
to become familiar with the general appearance of the plants; as this will not only give 
additional interest to the study, but will very greatly facilitate the progress of the student. 
Bayswater. 
J. W. L. 
Of?! 
