A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection
George Bentham (1800-84) was one of Britain's most influential botanists, whose own collection of plant specimens numbered more than 100,000. Although he donated his herbarium to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1854, he continued to make significant contributions to the field, including this exhaustive, seven-volume work detailing the plant life of Australia, which was published from 1863 to 1878. It was part of a series of works commissioned by the British government to document the flora in its colonies. Using the extensive numbers of specimens at Kew - and with the help of Ferdinand Mueller (1825-96), a German botanist in Australia - Bentham was able to compile descriptions of more than 8,000 species of Australian plants, making these volumes the first completed compendium of the flora of any large continental area.
Volume 1, published in 1863, introduces the project and describes 39 orders of the dicotyledon class of flora.
Preface
Introduction: Outlines of Botany, with Special Reference to Local Floras
1. Definitions and descriptive botany
2. Classification, or systematic botany
3. Vegetable anatomy and physiology
4. Collection, preservation, and determination of plants
Index of terms, or glossary
Flora Australiensis: Class I. Dicotyledons. Subclass I. Polypetalae
Order I. Ranunculaceae
Order II. Dilleniaceae
Order III. Magnoliaceae
Order IV. Anonaceae
Order V. Menispermaceae
Order VI. Nymphaeaceae
Order VII. Papaveraceae
Order VIII. Cruciferae
Order IX. Capparideae
Order X. Violarieae
Order XI. Bixineae
Order XII. Pittosporeae
Order XIII. Tremandreae
Order XIV. Polygaleae
Order XV. Frankeniaceae
Order XVI. Caryophylleae
Order XVII. Portulaceae
Order XVIII. Elatineae
Order XIX. Hypericineae
Order XX. Guttiferae
Order XXI. Malvaceae
Order XXII. Sterculiaceae
Order XXIII. Tiliaceae
Order XXIV. Lineae
Order XXV. Malpighiaceae
Order XXVI. Zygophylleae
Order XXVII. Geraniaceae
Order XXVIII. Rutaceae
Order XXIX. Simarubeae
Order XXX. Burseraceae
Order XXXI. Meliaceae
Order XXXII. Olacineae
Order XXXIII. Ilicineae
Order XXXIV. Celastrineae
Order XXXV. Stackhousieae
Order XXXVI. Rhamneae
Order XXXVII. Ampelideae
Order XXXVIII. Sapindaceae
Order XXXIX. Anacardiaceae
Index