Contents:  Introductory chapter. I. Outlines of the morphology, natural history, classification, geographical distribution and economic uses of the flowering plants and ferns: 1. Outlines of the general morphology, physiology, and natural history of the flowering plants and ferns. 2. Classification of plants. 3. Forms of vegetation, geographical distribution of plants, &c. 4. Economic botany. II. The classes, cohorts, orders and chief genera of the flowering plants and ferns, alphabetically arranged under their Latin names. III. Glossarial index of English names, economic products, technical terms, specific names, abbreviations, prefixes, &c.

"The student, when placed before the bewildering variety of plants met with in a botanical garden, museum, or in the field, does not know where to begin or what to do. The available works of general reference are mostly bulky and say very little about morphology or natural history. This book brings together as much information as is required by a botany student, upon all plants met with, and upon all those points--morphology, classification, natural history, economic botany, etc.

The principal part of the book consists of a dictionary in which the whole of the families and the important genera of flowering plants and ferns are dealt with. The families are treated very fully, more than in any other ordinary textbook of systematic botany. The information is organized in an alphabetical order under their Latin names. The unique and very useful feature of the book is the comprehensive and elaborate glossarial index of English names, economic products, technical terms, specific names, abbreviations and prefixes, etc.

This new edition of the book incorporates a mass of new material. New articles on outfit, on collecting and preserving material, on observing and recoding, and on general field work, have been added. The treatment of morphology, ecology, and geographical distribution has been made more categorical. The book is indeed a reliable work of reference for all interested in botany." (jacket)