HUS^ TEYLES) ]
LONDON:
BRAUaURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
PREFACE.
THE Editor of the present edition wishes to add to what is stated in the
original Preface as to the objects, purpose, and usefulness of the BOTANICAL
DICTIONARY, that the rapid and extensive sale of all former issues has
confirmed the opinion expressed by the originator of the work, that his
little volume just met the wants and wishes of the botanical and horticultural
world.
It was on this account that the late Sir Joseph Paxton contemplated
the publication of a revised edition, and although prevented by illness from
completing his intention, he was yet able to plan and arrange the whole,
and to examine the earlier portion of the printed matter, as it issued from
the press ; and before his death, to entrust the completion of the work to the
present Avriter, who, for nearly forty years, had laboured under his direction
in most of his literary undertakings.
The alterations and additions to the present edition are numerous and
important ; to the abbreviations is added another column, denoting the
average height to which the species attain in their native countries, and
under ordinary cultivation.
The names of the natural orders throughout the work have undergone an
entire revision; and such alterations have been made as appeared consonant
with the present advanced state of botanical knowledge : in this respect, the
arrangement of Dr. Lindley, in his Vegetable Kingdom, has been principally
followed, as being perhaps better known than any other in this country; and
certainly appreciated, if not adopted, in every land where botany is cultivated
and esteemed.