TO ROBERT GRAHAM, M.D., F.R.S. EDIN., F.L.S. &c. &c. &c. AND REGIUS PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. MY DEAR SIR, FELLOW.LABOURERS as we are in the same field, occupied professionally in the same pursuit in Sister Universities of this country, and alike anxious for the advancement of our favourite science ;—these may be considered, in themselves, sufficient reasons why I should wish to dedicate the following pages But I have a still stronger inducement; namely, that I may thereby record the friendship which has, I believe, almost from the first of our acquaintance, subsisted between us, and which I fervently hope may continue during the remainder of our lives. to you. That this work may be found useful to your students, as well as to my own, and that your zealous endeavours to promote the interests of your Class, and of Botany in general, may be rewarded by the most happy success, are amongst the sincerest wishes of, Dear Sir, Your faithful and affectionate Friend, THE AUTHOR. INTRODUCTION. THE object which the Author proposed to himself, in preparing a new Flora of the British Empire, was of a twofold nature: 1stly, to provide the young Student with a description of our native plants, arranged according to the simplest method; and 2dly, to afford to the more experienced Botanist, a manual, that should be useful in the field as well as in the closet. In regard to the first object, the experience of nearly an hundred years has proved to every unprejudiced mind, that no system has appeared which can be compared to that of the immortal Swede for the facility with which it enables any one, hitherto unpractised in Botany, to arrive at a knowledge of the Genus and Species of a plant.-The Linnæan Method is, therefore, here still, though not exclusively, adopted. It has been the opinion of the author, and of many of his friends, that, in most of the Floras hitherto published, however excellent in other respects, either too much or too little space has been devoted to the generic and specific descriptions and synonyms; in the one case, swelling the book to a size which entails both expense on the purchaser and difficulty in consulting the several volumes; in the other, reducing the technical characters to the shortest possible compass, so that they can scarcely be made available, except to those who are already partially acquainted with the plant under examination, or with some of its near allies. Between these extremes, the author has attempted to steer a middle course, by giving diagnostic remarks where, and where only, they have appeared to him necessary; confining the synonyms, with few exceptions, to those of the writer who first described the plant, to a good figure, and a reference to a single Flora of Great Britain; and by adopting such an arrangement of the subject-matter as would best occupy every portion of the page, without rendering it obscure to the reader. How far his endeavours have proved successful, must be left to the experience and judgment of those for whose use the work is particularly intended. Should it be useful in advancing the cause of Botanical Science in this country, as the demand for four very large impressions, in the brief space of 7 years, leads him to believe, the end which was fondly anticipated at the commencement of the undertaking will be fully accomplished. During the progress of the labour, it occurred to the Author that he might give additional interest to the volumes by subjoining short notices of the uses and properties of, or some little historical remarks relative to, the species, the origin of the generic names, &c. : thereby recommending the pursuit of which it treats, to the attention of the many, who are still apt to look upon Botany as a dry and profitless employment, a system of hard words, destitute of any real utility to mankind. Mirbel has well remarked, that " Ceux qui proscrivent l'usage des méthodes artificielles n'en ont point saisi le véritable esprit ; ceux qui ne s'attachent qu'à ces classifications arbitraires, et qui négligent l'etude des rapports naturels, ignorent la beauté et la dignité de la science;"—a maxim which it is to be wished were more generally acknowledged. For it is unfortunately too much the practice of the day, for the one party, having devoted an exclusive attention to one or other of these Methods, to decry that with which he is unacquainted, or the advantages of which he has never had the good fortune to experience. The more easy the commencement of a study is made, the more votaries will be drawn to it; and though they should attain to no further knowledge of a Natural Method than what has been taught by the imperishable writings of a Linnæus and of a Smith, yet let them be assured that in plants, taken individually, and in an isolated manner, there are subjects that will give ample scope for the employment of the talents of the greatest philosophers in the due contemplation of which they may derive both pleasure and advantage themselves, and be the means of communicating them to others, "The well-directed sight Brings, in each flower, an universe to light." |