280 
REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
climate. The Roses of A sia, for instance, resemble each other; the Roses of America resemblb 
each other; while we find the greatest difference of aspect between the Roses of Asia and the 
Roses of America, and the characters of each may be changed by transplantation to a different 
climate and mode of cultivation. But no change of climate or cultivation has ever served to 
convert a yellow Rose into a red one; or to produce composite leaves on a fertile Barberry-leaved 
Rose, or single leaves on a fertile Rosa lutea.” —p. 60. 
This, if true, is curious, seeing that changes of colour , both in the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, are perhaps more easily produced than those of any other 
kind. Mrs. Gore briefly characterises her three species thus :— Rosa simplici- 
folia , flowers pure yellow, thorns (in the natural state) composite, leave single ; 
R. lutea , flowers pure yellow, thorns single, leaves composite; R. mutabilis , 
flowers pink, but varying from white to crimson, thorns simple, leaves composite* 
We might break a literary lance with Mrs. Gore respecting an illustration 
introduced in support of one of her arguments, at p. 66, but our space forbids us* 
In conclusion, we may express an opinion that this treatise on the Rose in general, 
and its varieties in particular, will prove both instructive and interesting to the 
“ fanciers’" of that lovely shrub. 
The Little English Flora; or a Botanical and Popular Account of all our 
Common Field Flowers. With Engravings on Steel of every Species. By G. W* 
Francis, Author of the Analysis of British Ferns , &c. London : Simpkin , 
Marshall , fy Co. 1839. 12mo. pp. 174. 
The author is induced to offer the present work to public notice in consequence 
of “the very favourable reception” of his recently-published work on the Ferns* 
The style and objects of the two works are, however, -widely dissimilar. The 
Analysis of the British Ferns was intended for botanists, whilst the Little English 
Flora is addressed to those yet outside the portals of the temple of science, but 
desirous of entering within them. The plan of the work embraces a series of 
figures of the commoner wild plants, amounting to two hundred and eighty, with 
descriptions of the plants, in which botanical technicalities are rendered into as 
easy language as is compatible with exactness, the whole interspersed with light 
scraps of knowledge respecting their uses, anecdotes, and poetical gleanings. The 
figures of the plants are very minute, tw r enty species on each plate; but for the 
most part they are excellent representations of the general appearance or habits 
of the plants, although the technical distinctions of the genera, and often those 
of the species, are unavoidably lost in the minuteness of the figures. The volume 
is very neatly got up, and just the thing for a present to a young lady (or gentle¬ 
man) desirous of acquiring some knowledge of wild plants by easy steps into 
Botany. Mr. Francis falls into the common error of botanists in recommending 
students first to study the verbal descriptions, and in case of any doubt as to the 
