v i l i PREFACE.
Respecting the number of scientific terms herein e;.plained, we may be allowed
to say that no other popular glossary contains such a copious collection. Their
explication is in exact accordance with the views of the most learned botanists,
merely being rcduced to dimensions which best comport with simplicity and
conciseness.
Considering the immense field which this volume occupies, the accentuation of
generic, specific, and all purely botanical names that are not Anglicised, must be
regarded as a highly valuable characteristic. By the extreme perspicuity of tlie
marks employed, their full and universal adaptation, and the fact that they were all
supplied by the first botanist in England, (Dr. Lindley,) the botanic student or
other assiduous examiner will here meet with a fund of accurate instruction in this
pai-ticular, to which only the most laboured and extremely expensive publication
can at all pretend.
It might be assumed that the signs used are sufficiently common to require no
comment ; but, for the benefit of the less informed, we shall just show the manner
in which they apply. In the first place, the vowel in each word over which the
primary accent occurs, sustains all the emphasis of the syllabic pronunciation
independently of the real nature of the sign. Further, the employment of the lonc^
quantity ( - ) or the short quantity (") simply denotes that the vowel above which
they are placed is to be sounded long and broadly, or short and abruptly. To
vary our expression, the short vowel is perpetually pronounced in conjunction with
the next consonant, and the long one has its own distinct and final sound, as if
the letter were doubled, but the voice rested on each. In all cases when the last
syllable but one is marked long ("), the accent falls on that syllable ; and when
the last syllable but one is marked short ("), the accent falls on the last syllable
but two. Thus Romanics would be accented Romiinus, and tricolor would be
accented tricolor, although the i on which the accent is placed is short. It is
extremely important to bear this in mind.
To reduce the work to the smallest practicable size, it has been found requisite
to abridge the language conveying many of the details, and that this may be rightly
comprehended, we shall now enter on its elucidation. First, the numerical figures
which follow the recognised specific names in the general list, and such as precede
the synonymes, have, as before hinted, a direct connexion with each other
establishing the identity. Thus, in page 1, under the genus ACACIA, the synonyme
" 1 . A. acicularis" is but another appellation for "A. Brownei 1," in the
PREFACE. IX
ensuing text; " 2. Mimosa tortuosa," is synonymous with " A. Burmanniana
2 and so on, in like manner, throughout the whole. Next, the authorities for
the generic names are very often shortened, and a list of all those, with the country
in which they rose to celebrity, will be subjoined. Again, the descriptive peculiarities
of species are classed in seven columns, in which the colours of the flowers,
—the month during which they commonly blossom,—their habitude, whether as
concerns the temperature they receive, their duration, or general nature, their
native climate, and the year in which they were first introduced to Britain, are
all duly registered. Where either or several of these circumstances are omitted,
it is to be inferred that they have not been accurately ascertained. In the case of
Epiphytes, Palms, and Grasses, they are simply noted as such, since their habits
are universally the same. All other trifling particulars are regularly and efficiently
interpreted in the catalogue of abbreviations.
Having thus specified the objects, classification, and utility of the work, we have
only to commend it to the kind indulgence of the public, convinced that, whatever
may be its failings—and in such an extensive compilation some defects must
naturally be anticipated—they are neither glaring, momentous, nor, notwithstanding
the smallness of the type, equal to those of any similar production. To the
gardener, and all who cultivate or delight in acquainting themselves with plants,
either for enrichment or amusement; but emphatically to such persons as wish
to study the nature and history of vegetation in the garden, where alone they can
hope these features to be permanently impressed on the memory, the BOTANICAL
POCKET DICTIONAIIY has claims which nothing at present existing or likely to be
issued can supplant or diminish.
J O S E P H FAXTON.
CHATSWORTH,
Jubj, 1840.