A New and Easy Method of Studying British Wild Flowers by Natural Analysis

Abstract

THIS work indicates a very large amount of labour on the part of the author; whether the labour has been altogether well applied is another question. For the field botanist whose sole object is to determine the name of a wild flower it will no doubt be useful in assisting him to make out at least the order and genus, for beyond this it does not pretend to go. No botanist will be disposed to depreciate the value of field botany and of the study of critical species, which often leads to further study of some of the great questions connected with the life of plants. There is no doubt that species-botany had been exalted a quarter of a century ago to a far too prominent place by English workers, and had been much too exclusively followed, to the disregard of morphological and especially of physiological work. The inevitable reaction has set in, and is now perhaps at its height, when the number of botanists who have an accurate acquaintance with our British flora is extremely small. As an introductory work for those who are desirous of increasing this number, Mr. Messer's book may be recommended, always provided that the student does not imagine that it will materially help him in his study of the structural and genetic affinities of the different families of plants. The graphic illustrations are novel in design, and will no doubt help to impress the meaning of the technical terms on the beginner. Some few errors should not have been allowed to pass in a work bearing the date of the present year. Among these is the reference of Selaginella selaginoides to the genus Lycopodium, and the complete suppression of Selaginellaceæ as a British order of vascular cryptogams.