Hortus Kewensis (1st edition)/Volume 1/Preface
PREFACE.
It has been thought proper, in order that this work may not be swelled with unnecessary synonyms, that the plants described in the Species Plantarum and the two Mantissa's of the elder Linnæus, should simply be referred to those books, with the addition only of references to the works of Jacquin, Curtis, L'Heritier, and the Flora Rossica.
The Supplementum Plantarum of the younger Linnæus was not published till great progress had been made in compiling this Catalogue; plants that were inserted in it before the time of that publication, will therefore frequently be found to have the same synonyms as are given in it; all that have been added since are referred to it in the same manner as others are to the works of the Father; but errors which too frequently occur in the Son's publication, are, wherever they have been discovered, corrected.
All plants that are not described by either of the Linnæs's have every synonym of careful writers, that could be discovered, annexed to them.
When the younger Linnæus was in England, in 1781 and 1782, he composed a treatise on the Palms and Liliaceous Plants, extracts of which, as far as thought like to be useful to this Catalogue, he communicated to the Author; this Manuscript is quoted under the abbreviation of Linn. fil. His death, which happened soon after his return to Sweden, prevented its publication; but it is in the possession of Dr. James Edward Smith, of London, as are also the libraries and collections of both the Father and the Son.
References are frequently made to the works of M. L'Heritier, under Plants of which he has not yet published either descriptions or figures; these are taken from communications this gentleman frequently made, during the course of printing, of every thing he had prepared for the press. But, as the public will in due time be put into possession of the whole, little need by said on this subject.
Throughout the whole of this Catalogue, an attempt is made to trace back, as far as possible, how long each Plant has been cultivated in the British Gardens, and to fix, with as much precision as the nature of the subject would allow, the epoch of its introduction. This, like all new undertakings, will be liable to many corrections. For the use, therefore, of those who may undertake to improve it, a chronological list of the printed authorities that have been made use of is annexed.
1551. Turner's herbal, part 1.
1562. Turner's herbal part 2.
1568. Turner's herbal part 3.
1570. Lobelii adversaria.
1596. Catalogus horti Johannis Gerardi.
1597. Gerard's herbal.
1605. Lobelii adversariorum pars altera.
1629. Parkinson's paradisus.
1633. Gerard's herbal, enlarged by Johnson.
1640. Parkinson's herbal.
1648. Catalogus horti Oxoniensis.
1656. Catalogus horti Johannis Tradescanti, in museo Tradescantiano.
1658. Catalogus horti Oxoniensis, cura Ph. Stephani et Gul. Brownei.
1680. Morisoni historia Plantarum Oxoniensis, pars 2.
1683. Sutherland's hortus Edinburgensis.
1686. Raii historia plantarum, tom. 1.
1687. Raii historia plantarum, tom. 2.
1691. Plukenetii phytographia, pars 1 & 2.
1692. Plukenetii phytographia, pars 3.
1696. Plukenetii phytographia, pars 4, seu Almagestum.
1699. Historia plantarum Oxoniensis, pars 3, absoluta a J. Bobartio.
1700. Pluklenetii mantissa almagesti.
1704. Raii historia plantarum, tom. 3.
1705. Plukenetii amaltheum.
1711–1715. Petiver's botanicum hortense, in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. 27, 28, 29.
1716. Bradley's history of succulent plants, 1 decade.
1717. Bradley's history of succulent plants 2 decade.
1724. Catalogue of trees sold by Robert Furber, in Miller's Gardener's and Florist's dictionary.
1725. Bradley's history of succulent plants, 3 decade.
1727. Bradley's history of succulent plants, 4 and 5 decade.
1728. Martyn plantarum rariorum decas 1.
1729. Martyn plantarum rariorum decas 2.
1730. Martyn plantarum rariorum decas 3.
1730. Catalogue of plants propagated for sale in the gardens near London.
1731. Miler's gardener's dictionary, 1st edition.
1732. Dillenii hortus Elthamensis.
1732. Martyn plantarum rariorum decas 4.
1736. Martyn plantarum rariorum decas decas 5.
1739. Rand horti Chelseiani index.
1729. Miller's gardener's dictionary, vol. 2.
1743. Miller's 4th edition.
1748. Miller's 5th edition.
1752. Miller's 6th edition.
1755–1760. Miller's figures of plants described in the gardener's dictionary.
1759. Miller's gardener's dictionary, 7th edition.
1768.Miller's gardener's dictionary, 8th edition.
Whether Miller's dictionary, and especially the second volume of the edition of 1739, can be considered as sufficient authority for concluding the plants mentioned in it to have been actually cultivated in England at the time of its publication, may be a matter of doubt. Lyte's Herbal is an actual translation of Dodonæus; and Parkinson's Paradisus terrestris little better than a compilation from other books. Miller's dictionary is certainly a more original work than either of these; it is seldom, however, if ever, that the author has quoted either of these books as authority, without having been induced by some additional reason, to believe that the plants alluded to were actually cultivated here at the time stated.
Several Manuscripts preserved in the Sloanean Collection at the British Museum have been made use of in this part of the Work, particularly No 3370, intitled, Horti Regii Hamptoniensis exoticarum Plantarum Catalogus; to which another hand-writing has added, by Dr. Gray. On a blank page in this book is the following memorandum: "This Catalogue I took from one which the Intendant of the garden they were in at Hampton-Court, lent to me upon the place, with liberty sufficient to inspect the Plants: they were brought from Soesdyke, a house belonging to Mr. Bentink, afterwards Earl of Portland, about the year 1690, and given by him to King William."
The abbreviation Br.Mus. H.S. signifies the Sloanean Hortus siccus, kept in the British Museum; from whence much information, principally concerning the Plants cultivated by the Dutchess of Beaufort, has been obtained. R. S. means the specimens of Plants annually, in obedience to Sir Hans Sloane's will, presented by the Company of Apothecaries to the Royal Society, part of which are deposited in the library belonging to that body, in Somerset Place, and the remainder in the British Museum.
On the authority of various letters and other papers communicated by Michael Collinson, Esq; many Plants are said to have been introduced by his father, Mr. Peter Collinson, of Mill Hill.
Mr. Knowlton, formerly Gardener to James Sherard, M. D. at Eltham, gave a variety of useful information, to which his name is always annexed. He died in 1782, at the age of 90.
Mr. James Lee, nurseryman at the vineyard, Hammersmith, who remembers the gardens of Archibald duke of Argyle, at Whitton, near Hounflow, cultivated with much care and liberal expence, has furnished the Author with a list of the Trees that were introduced by his Grace.
From his own memory the Author states several Plants to have been cultivated by Mr. Ph. Miller, in the Physick Garden at Chelsea, though no reference is made to them in his Gardener's Dictionary.
Some Plants are by tradition known to have been introduced by Robert James Lord Petre, but the times when are utterly forgot; to remedy, as much as possible, this inconvenience, they are always stated as having been introduced before 1742, the time of his Lordship's death.
Mr. Miller, in his Dictionary, often mentions Plants as having been sent to him by Dr. Houstoun, but he frequently omits the time when he recieved them; these, therefore, are in like manner stated as having been introduced before the period of the Doctor's decease, which happened in 1733.
As the figure of Calceolaria Fothergillii differs a little from the description, it is necessary to mention, that the description was made in 1779, from a weak Plant, the first that flowered in England; and that the plate is from a drawing, taken since the letter-press was printed, from a strong healthy plant: hence it is also, that no reference is made in the text to this figure.