The Encyclopaedia or the Treasury of Botany of The Vegetable Kingdom with Which is Incorporated A Glossary of Botanical Terms

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

THE OBJECT which it was proposed to accomplish by the publication of this TREASURY OF BOTANY, was to bring together, into the form of a Dictionary, a concise account of all the Plants concerning which a general reader was likely to seek for information; adding thereto, where practicable, longer notices of the more remarkable species, together with such popular matter As would give interest to the otherwise dry technical character of generic or specific descriptions. This information was to be diversified by wood- cuts, and illustrated by views of scenery, representing the peculiar physiognomy of vegetation in different parts of the world.

The genera under which botanists have arranged the subjects of the Vegetable Kingdom are however, as is well known, so numerous, that they could not be all included in a moderate-sized textbook like the present, and hence selection became a necessity. In the choice of subjects, it has been inade an especial object that none of the more important plants, whether in regard to their utility, their beauty, or their interest to botanical students, should be overlooked; although it is to be borne in mind that, in a progressive science like Botany, some omissions, such as of genera first made known or brought into notice during the progress of the work, must be inevitable.

What the TREASURY OF BOTANY really comprises, therefore, is a short history of those genera of plants which are known to possess especial interest on account of the medicinal qualities or the economical uses of their species, or by reason of their beauty or utility as garden plants; while to these two groups has been added a still larger one, comprising a selection of genera serving as representatives of the whole series of Natural Orders and their subdivisions. The space devoted to each separate genus is necessarily brief; and, except in the case of medicinal or economically valuable plants, of which a rather fuller account is given, the object has been to convey some notion of the characteristics of genera or families, rather than to attempt an enumeration, much less a description, of the species of which they consist. For that a massive encyclopædia would have been necessary.

**Contents and Sample Pages**