Manual of British botany, containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to natural orders / By Charles C. Babington.

  • Babington, Charles C. (Charles Cardale), 1808-1895.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Manual of British botany, containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to natural orders / By Charles C. Babington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    proceeding, and with this object he has carefully examined nearly all the best European Floras, comparing our plants with the descriptions contained in them, and in very many cases with foreign specimens of undoubted authenticity. In the adoption of genera and species an endeavour has been made, by the examination of the plants themselves, to determine what are to be considered as truly distinct, thus, it is hoped, taking Nature as a guide, and not depending upon the authority of any name, however distinguished. Still let it not be supposed that any claim is made to pecu- liar accuracy, nor that the Author considers himself qualified to dictate to any student of botany, for he is well aware that there are many points upon which persons who have carefully studied the subject may form different conclusions from those to which he has been led. | The present volume being intended to form a field-book or travelling companion for botanists, it was advisable to restrict the space allotted to each species as much as pos- sible, and accordingly it will be found that the characters and observations are only such as appeared to be necessary for their aceurate discrimination. Synonyms have been almost wholly omitted, but at least one British and one German figure of each plant is quoted in all cases in which it could be done with accuracy. Localities are only given for new or peculiarly rare plants, the existence of so com- plete a work as Mr. Watson’s New Botanist’s Guide having made it unnecessary inconveniently to swell the present volume by their introduction; but in order to convey some idea of the distribution of plants throughout the United Kingdom, the letters E, S, and I have been appended to the descriptions of such species as are only found in England, Scotland, or Ireland respectively,—all plants without such an addition having been observed in each of them. An O has been appended to a very few plants which only occur in the Channel Islands, or which, although included in our lists, there is reason to suppose have never been really detected in Britain, thus pointing out that they have little or no right to be considered as natives or even denizens. The descriptions of a considerable number of doubtful species which have been added to our Flora by previous writers, or which, although decidedly naturalized, have very slender claims to be considered as aboriginal natives, are included within [ ], and notices of a few plants
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