Abstract
IN his presidential address to Section K, Prof. J. R. Matthews begins by referring to some of the more noteworthy landmarks in the history of British botany. The exact recording of native plants, an essential preliminary to the formulation of any scientific account of them, dates from the time of William Turner. Although new records have continued to be made down to the present time, the discovery and discrimination of more than a thousand species of vascular plants before the death of John Ray in 1705 remains an outstanding tribute to the work of the early explorers. Much of the subsequent floristic work was carried out by botanists who made no claim to be called professional, and it often found expression in the publication of local or county floras. The value of these surveys could not be seriously doubted, and there is a growing need for their encouragement and support by all responsible authorities, public or private, who have the desire to see a revival of interest in the scientific study of local natural history.
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Study of the British Flora. Nature 162, 405 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162405a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162405a0