BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
^HE present work has been undertaken in consequence of its being suggested to me that a 
selection of British Wild Flowers, in one volume, on the same plan as my Ladies’ Flower Garden, 
would be useful to those who have neither time nor opportunity to consult the larger works on 
the subject. In order to confine myself within the necessary limits, I shall take only the most 
ornamental plants, and I shall not figure any flowers that are common in gardens. My object 
is to enable any amateur who may find a pretty flower growing wild to ascertain its name and 
some particulars respecting it; and, in addition to these details, I have ventured to add a few 
remarks on the botanical construction of most of the plants, in the hope of inducing such of my 
readers as may be unacquainted with botany to study a charming science, which has hitherto 
been too much neglected. I must confess nothing would give me more pleasure than to see 
botany commonly taught in girls’ schools, as French and music are at present; and I think it 
more than probable that in another generation it will be so—as, though the Linnsean system was 
unfit for females, there is nothing objectionable in the Natural Arrangement; and the prejudice 
against botanical names is every day declining, from the number of beautiful plants exhibited at 
Flower Shows which have no English appellations. 
The naming of the trees in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and the establishment of 
so many new Botanic Gardens, particularly the beautiful one in the Regent’s Park, in addition 
to the very great improvement in that at Kew, under the able superintendence of Sir W. J. 
Hooker, must also have great influence in familiarising persons with botanic names; and I sincerely 
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