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.
