L'bruarv 18. 1905. 
The Gardening World 
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Views and Reviews 
Manual of British Botany. 
The above standard manual has now 
reached its ninth edition. The eighth made 
its appearance in 1881, during the life-time 
of its gifted author, the late Charles Cardale 
Babington. The preface to the eighth edi¬ 
tion is very much the same as the preface to 
the seventh-edition, which appeared in 1874 
with a few slight alterations. 
During the whole period of its author s 
activity, however, he was not content merely 
to reproduce his book when it went out of 
print, tie was an ardent student all his 
life, and though his pretensions were 
modest, he, nevertheless, continued to study 
almost to the close of his life, and during 
this period he was always making correc¬ 
tions and annotations on his latest published 
edition with the view of making correc¬ 
tions or alterations in any succeeding one. 
The matter for the ninth edition, however, 
was left incomplete at the death of the 
author, a few years ago. In order to com¬ 
plete the alterations necessary, Mrs. Babing¬ 
ton urgently requested the assistance of 
Messrs. Henry and James Groves, who have 
carried out the work sympathetically. 
The ninth edition is very Similar to the 
seventh, except that it is slightly shorter 
and somewhat thicker, owing to the fresh 
matter that has been inserted. The greatest 
alteration which we note at the commence¬ 
ment of the work is the omission of the 
classes and orders in the Linnean artificial 
system. 'The latter has long been anti¬ 
quated, but is nevertheless a very easy 
system for the beginner, and which can be 
studied at the same time as the natural 
system. The synopsis of the natural orders 
of British plants still remains, but we found 
the Linnean one of special value in certain 
cases where some of the genera were not in 
close accordance with the rest of the order, 
forming exceptions as it were to the usual 
rule in that order. The glossary is also 
retained, and is both extensive and highly 
valuable to the student who is just com¬ 
mencing to master the flora of his own 
country. Indeed we think this glossary ac¬ 
companying the flora saves the necessity for 
* “ Manual of British Botany.’’ containing the Flowering 
Plants ami Ferns arranged according to the Natural Orders. 
Bv the late Charles Cardale Babington. M.A., F.R.o., 
F'L S Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge. 
Ninth Edition. Enlarged from the author's manuscripts 
and other sources. Edited by Henry and James Groves. 
London : Gurney & Jackson, Paternoster Row (successors to 
Mr. Van Voorst). 1904. 
getting a separate dictionary in order to 
understand the terms used. 
The greai value of the ” Manual of British 
Botany, we have always considered to he 
its separation of British plants into ihe 
numerous forms to he found in a wild state. 
Amongst British floras it undoubtedly lias 
always taken first rank as a critical work 
on the flora of this country. A modern stu¬ 
dent taking the “ London Catalogue as his 
guide as to what could be found in the 
country, would he very much at sea were it 
not for the keen delimitation of forms so 
characteristic of the late Professor s work. 
Several of the genera stood out prominently 
in this respect, but no British flora treated 
more fully and faithfully on the Jiubi, Hier- 
acia and Carices than did the " Manual of 
British Botany.” < )ther works did indeed 
go more into the minutiae of the structure 
of fruit, seeds, and the contents of the latter, 
but for an exhaustive work, and at the same 
time one easy to understand, we at an early 
date recognised the value of Babington s 
work. 
In opening the book almost at any page 
we can readily recognise that the editors 
have followed the late author’s ideas and 
intentions as closely as possible, so that the 
chief alterations may consist in the bringing 
of names more into line with the original, 
and therefore correct one. This is a matter 
that has been brought to the front with re¬ 
markable prominence since the completion 
of the “ Index Kewensis.” The late 
Charles Darwin left funds for the carrying 
out of this colossal work in order to get at 
the original and correct description of every 
plant that has been described. A few addi¬ 
tions have been made throughout the book 
where the author’s continued studies 
brought him fresh information. It may also 
he stated that owing to the great activity 
in the botanical field since the death of the 
author, fresh information in various of the 
genera has had to he taken into considera¬ 
tion. 
Possiblv the weakest genus dealt with by 
Professor Babington was Rosa. The editors 
state that he evidently intended to 
thoroughly revise this genus, and in using 
his notes and making some other alterations 
the editors have managed to bring the genus 
almost in line with the best-informed 
authors at the present day. There will al¬ 
ways he differences of opinion, and even that 
is frequently indicated by the editors in this 
genus, which is undoubtedly one of the most 
difficult in the whole British flora. There 
have been many workers in the field, but 
