"Having been requested to re-edit Hayward's very useful 'Botanist's pocket-book,' I found that the large amount of excellent field-work which has been done in Britain during the last thirty years made it necessary to widen its scope considerably. At the same time, the original plan, where possible, has been retained. The work in this compressed form necessarily cannot include complete descriptions; it is intended merely to enable the botanist in the field to name his specimens approximately, and to refresh the memory of the more advaned worker who may use it. Almost all the important species and varieties, and the more completely established alien species mentioned in Syme's Edition of 'English botany,' in my 'List of British plants,' and in the 10th Edition of the 'London catalogue,' will be found included"--Preface to the thirteenth edition.

The earliest botanical illustrations are found in ancient herbals, practical works of knowledge written to pass on crucial information about how to heal the sick. Around the time of the Renaissance, however, flowers began to be more generally appreciated for their beauty, thus encouraging talented artists to attempt to capture their magic. Botanical illustration developed into a high art form during the golden era of the 18th and early 19th centuries. From that era date some of the most stunning examples of botanical art ever made. The earliest known examples of published botanical illustration can be found in the five-volume De Materia Medica written by the ancient Greek physician and scholar Pedanius Dioscorides, a traveling physician from Asia Minor who followed the Emperor Nero's army as it campaigned across the Roman Empire. Many other illustrators followed in the path of Dioscorides--even Leonardo da Vinci tried his hand at botanicals--but undoubtedly the most well-known illustrator is the Flemish artist Pierre Joseph Redout� (1759-1840), who painted exact scientific illustrations for the botanist Charles Louis L'H�ritier. Redout� also became Marie-Antoinette's official draftsman and Painter to the Queen's Cabinet, especially well known today for his illustrations of roses.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872.