A POCKET GUIDE TO THE BRITISH SYLVA BY EDWARD STEP, F.L.S. AUTHOR OF "WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND BLOSSOMS" "THE ROMANCE OF WILD FLOWERS" "SHELL LIFE" ETC. _WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE PLATES FROM WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS BY MABEL E. STEP AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY HENRY IRVING AND THE AUTHOR._ LONDON FREDERICK WARNE & CO. AND NEW YORK (_All rights reserved_) "_Of all man's works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that._" _Henry Ward Beecher._ PREFACE. The purpose of this volume is not the addition of one more to the numerous treatises upon sylviculture or forestry, but to afford a straightforward means for the identification of our native trees and larger shrubs for the convenience of the rural rambler and Nature-lover. The list of British arborescent plants is a somewhat meagre one, but all that could be done in a pocket volume by way of supplementing it has been done--by adding some account of those exotics that have long been naturalized in our woods, and a few of more recent introduction that have already become conspicuous ornaments in many public and private parks. In this edition forty-eight extra plates have been added, of which twenty-four are in colours. The latter are in part reproductions of water-colour studies of flowers and fruits, and partly from photographs by a new method. For the black and white plates, the photographs, it should be explained, have been taken upon a novel plan in most cases. This consists in photographing a deciduous tree in its summer glory, and returning to the same spot in winter and photographing the same individual, so that a striking comparison may be made between the summer and winter aspects of the principal species. Supplementary photographs are given, in many cases, of the bole, which exhibit the character of the bark, and should prove a valuable aid in the identification of species. Others show in larger detail the flowers or fruit, and the characteristic leaf-buds in spring. The figures in the text have all been expressly drawn for the work with a view to showing at a glance the general character of the foliage, and in most cases the flower and fruit. The work is divided into two sections. Part I. including those species that are generally considered to be indigenous to the British Islands, with briefer notices of the introduced species that are closely related to them. Part II. being devoted to those of foreign origin, some of them introduced so long ago that they are commonly regarded as native by those who are not botanists.